Wallace best qualified as test cricket coach

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31736, 20 July 1968, Page 11

Wallace best qualified as test cricket coach

'THE agreement of the x New Zealand Cricket Council’s Board of Control “in principle” to appoint a technical adviser for the New Zealand team in England next year may be taken to mean that there will be a coach. At the board meeting, several names were mentioned as possible coaches for the team—the great England bowler A. V. Bedser, the national coach M. J. Horton, and the former New Zealand captain W. M. Wallace. The considerable winter programme required of Horton in New Zealand will probably exclude him from consideration; of the other two, Wallace would appear to be by far the better choice. No doubt Bedser’s knowledge of English conditions would be an important consideration, but Wallace, who has twice toured England, is much more familiar with the New Zealand players’ problems and background. The New Zealand team of 1955-56 was transformed when Wallace was appointed to coach it half-way through its series with the West Indies. He joined the team at Wellington for the third test, after its heavy defeats by an innings in the first two games. At Wellington, New Zealand again lost heavily, but at least the innings defeat was avoided. And every small boy with a little cricket in him knows that New Zealanders went on to win at Auckland —New Zealand’s first test victory. Wallace, a batsman of great technical proficiency in his playing days, has one particular attribute. He seems able to give players confidence in themselves That win at Auckland was achieved because, for once in a way, the New Zealand team won an early advantage and held on to it grimly. So often before, and since, the idea of victory

seemed almost .an embarrassment to New Zealand. Wallace is a tremendous enthusiast and has a quick eye to detect minor flaws in a batsman’s technique which are getting him into trouble. The New Zealand team of 1956 was most impressed by Wallace’s tutelage. He held a similar appointment with less spectacular success, a few years later. He would be an admirable choice for the 1969 tour, probably under the guise of assistant manager.

If Wallace is available for the tour, and the board decides that he would be the best man to appoint, he should be asked to begin with the test team in the coming season, and not wait for the English tour to begin.. New Zealand has a three-match series with the West Indies which will make great demands on it. If Wallace took charge of the coaching at the start of this series, he would have a far greater chance of achieving good results.