Patience key word for Kiwi batsmen as well as public: Wright
By ANITuesday, January 11, 2011
WELLINGTON - New Zealand cricket coach John Wright has urged people to be patient as he goes about rectifying the national team’s batting fragility ahead of the second test against Pakistan at Wellington, starting on Saturday.
Wright’s first test in charge of his country ended in a cricketing disaster, New Zealand losing all 10 second innings wickets for 74 runs in one session as they fell to a 10-wicket defeat inside three days in the first test at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Wright, who took over from Mark Greatbatch just last month, described the manner of the loss as unacceptable, Stuff.co.nz reports.
“I’m a little bit older and wiser. It’s certainly been an interesting experience. You’ve got to have a look at things and I suppose in reality you’re looking at the challenge, which lies ahead of you. Everybody understands pretty clearly that performance was unacceptable,” Wright told Radio Sport today.
Patience was a key word, both for his batsmen and the public. “It’s going to take some time and we need to find batsmen that are prepared to be very patient and really want to stay at the crease,” he said.
“The talent’s there but we’ve got a bit of teaching to do. New Zealand sports fans do have big expectations, I understand that, and I can say to the public from all of us it was totally unacceptable and we’ve got to do a lot better,” he said.
“But show us some patience. If I can do my job properly and the boys respond, we’ll get there,” he added.
Wright remained confident New Zealand could square the two-match series with a win in Wellington, provided they quickly turn around their batting problems. (ANI)
