John Wright upbeat about New Zealand Cricket future
New Zealand coach, John Wright, believes that his team has the depth and talent to re-emerge, as more than a threat at the international level following an impressive World Cup show.
The perennial ‘semi-finalists’ made it to the last four of the recently concluded tournament against all odds. There performance was great when put into perspective of the fact that they had a wretched run leading up to the tournament
and that they were the only team besides the three Asian giants to make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Wright, who had a successful stint at the helm of the Indian team a few years ago, took charge of the Kiwis two months before the World Cup, and oversaw Test and One Day International (ODI) series losses against Pakistan.
The Kiwis were ranked outsiders for the showpiece International Cricket Council (ICC) event, yet surprised everyone by reaching the last four, brushing aside pre-tournament favourites, South Africa, in a dramatic quarter-final in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
"Losing the semi-final was bitterly disappointing but I hope the team has learnt", Wright said. "I think it has grown. What's important is that we just played as hard as we could with what we had, with the resources we had. Seeing
a team start to believe in themselves and in each other. The fight they showed tells you the team can get better. We have the opportunities at this stage to get better".
There has been another major appointment in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Buchanan-c48808.
Speaking last week, before the appointment of John Buchanan, as the Director of Cricket, Wright chose not to comment on his role and whether he would have influence on matters pertaining to the team that Wright would take to the field
in the months ahead.
The Kiwis have some top class cricket on their way. They are set to travel to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 next season.
Besides these two major assignments they are also set to encounter lowly ranked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in early 2012.
Meanwhile, Wright is impressed with the talent that is at his disposal in New Zealand he thinks that the future of the game is bright with many youngsters knocking on the door of international cricket.
The former captain and opening batsman has signed a two-year stint as NZC's high performance manager and he thinks that the next generation of New Zealand cricket have the talent, will, and, determination to make it big when their
time comes.
"We have got maybe five or six kids that really show a lot of potential", he said. "I have been really impressed with some of the talent I have seen in the last couple of years in under-17 and under-19 tournaments. I know that as long
as we can put a playing programme in place that challenges the guys coming through and bridges the gap between first-class and international cricket, the ones that really want to make it, we could hopefully hold our own".
Besides Buchanan and Wright, New Zealand Cricket, has also hired the services of legendary South African fast bowler, Allan Donald. Donald was with the team at the World Cup and started his stint at the beginning of the ODI series
against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 earlier in the year.
These three stalwarts are expected to bring improvement to New Zealand and make them a real force, which they have threatened to be for a long time.
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