New Zealand: Headache for Canterbury selectors (9 Aug 1998)

9 August 1998

Headache for Canterbury selectors

The Christchurch Press

Finding a new captain and wicketkeeper-batsman are two pressing concerns for Canterbury's incoming cricket selection panel, again headed by Brian McKechnie.

McKechnie and fellow selectors Garry MacDonald and newcomer Ben Harris (he replaced Timaru's Murray Parker who did not stand) had their first meeting yesterday to plan for the new season.

Apart from having the usual selection problem of providing about half of the province's players to the New Zealand team, Canterbury has also to find a replacement for the now retired Lee Germon, who basically performed three roles.

Darrin Murray, who regularly deputised for Germon, has also retired during the off-season.

"We would like to get a captain sorted out before the new season to give him some time to settle in," McKechnie said.

Front-runners for the job, with New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming unavailable for the bulk of the Shell series season, appear to be Gary Stead and Craig Cumming.

Both have led the side on occasion in the absence of Germon and the New Zealand players, Cumming captaining Canterbury when Stead was injured against Zimbabwe last season.

"Obviously you want your captain to be able to hold down a permanent place in the team," McKechnie said without giving any indication of preference.

A similar situation applies to the wicketkeeper-batsman position with McKechnie saying the player selected would be "the best man for the job".

Four candidates shape up at this early stage with Mark Lane and Ben Yock both having done the job whenever Germon had been absent, while Canterbury also has two promising players with New Zealand youth team experience, Glynn Howell and Michael Papps.

"I suppose the big test for a keeper is how well they stand up to the spinners and whether they can stand up to some medium-pacers," McKechnie said.

"And I suppose a bit depends on how long our batting order is," he said.

McKechnie was at one stage unlikely to be available himself for selection for a fifth successive season on the panel.

"I did have reservations about carrying on and thought about it for quite some time before deciding."

McKechnie said the job was time-consuming, but it appears the new season is less demanding than last season.

He welcomed the inclusion of Harris, a former recent first-class cricketer with Canterbury and Otago.

Harris is also a former coaching director with Canterbury cricket.

Source :: The Canterbury Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)