7:40 AM
Happy new year 2012
JONATHAN MILLMOW
OPINION: If Ma'a Nonu thinks he has been hard done by this week then he should talk to Glenn Turner.
Nonu's sacking has dominated the headlines but a true crime is under way in the South Island where New Zealand Cricket is slowly freezing out Turner, universally regarded as the shrewdest cricket mind in the country.
Sure, Turner is not everyone's cup of tea, but if New Zealand wants to have the right players on the park for each series then they stand a far greater show of doing so if the man known as "Turns" is in the selection mix.
Turner has been told "nought" about what is going on apart from the fact that everyone will have to reapply for their positions under yet another restructure by New Zealand Cricket.
But he can read the tea-leaves, he's gone, so too Lance Cairns and if my information is correct the knives are out for Mark Greatbatch as well.
Turner's dismissal is the one that grates the most, mind you there has to be some sympathy for Greatbatch as well who has suffered the greatest hero to zero treatment since Rodney Redmond scored a century on his test debut and never got to play again.
Turner has always been his own man. He has little time for emotion and fanfare and absolutely no desire to establish any sort of relationship with the players or for that matter administrators.
If the players want a pat on the back then Turner is the last person they should seek out, but if they want a lesson on technique and common sense he should be among the first.
When Turner talks cricket, people listen. Radio stations relish having him on because he does not waste words and he can be a challenging but fair interview for those in the print media.
Too often selectors, and for that matter coaches, get so close to players they struggle to cut them loose despite glaring slumps in form. The best examples of that are John Bracewell and Hamish Marshall.
Top players have made no secret of their desire to have Turner as far away from the selection table as possible and sadly NZC have listened.
One would imagine Turner would be challenging but invigorating to be on a panel with, provided, of course, you knew your wheat from your chaff.
One of Turner's selection colleagues, the estimable Dion Nash, spent four years on the panel with Turner and believes he is a gold nugget in the sport.
"I found him great to work with – honest with no agendas and always open to intelligent debate," Nash told the Herald on Sunday recently.
"However, if you disagree with him [Turner], you had better come with a strong argument and tell him why. If you don't, he naturally assumes you agree."
With good men gone, others will inevitably put their hand up to help John Wright select the team. Somewhat comically, former international Simon Doull has offered his services despite being compromised because of his role as a commentator and leading a media campaign last year outlining reasons why Wright should not be coach.
Doull wrote in his Sunday News column on January 17: "... Wright's relaxed brand of leadership is not going to cut it in the Black Caps setup.
"He's not the right man to lead the Black Caps into the new cricketing decade and anyone in the know in this country will tell you that."
It's been an interesting week.
- The Dominion Post
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