John Dyson enters race to be New Zealand coach

John Dyson, the former Sri Lanka and West Indies coach, has expressed interest in the New Zealand post recently vacated by Andy Moles. New Zealand Cricket have encountered difficulty filling the head coaching role of late - Moles' appointment last November came after Matthew Mott, Graham Ford and Mickey Arthur turned down the position - and the availability of a well-credentialled candidate will be viewed as a positive by Kiwi officials.

Before the industrial turmoil that engulfed West Indies cricket this year, Dyson led the side to three wins, seven draws and five defeats in the Test arena - a vast improvement on their record of six draws and 14 defeats in the 20 matches immediately prior to his arrival. His tenure was highlighted by West Indies' Wisden Trophy series victory over England this year and a shock away defeat of South Africa in his first match as coach. The nadir was undoubtedly the home Test series defeat to Bangladesh, during which a severely depleted West Indian side slumped to a 2-0 loss. Dyson was sacked shortly after.

Previously, Dyson piloted Sri Lanka to second and fourth in the Test and ODI rankings, only to be replaced by Tom Moody when a new administration took charge. Moody, Stephen Fleming and Greg Shipperd are among those to have withdrawn their candidacy for the vacant New Zealand post - all three have IPL commitments - leaving Dyson among the few contenders with recent international coaching experience.

"If the opportunity arose and they considered me a suitable candidate, I'd definitely be interested," Dyson told Cricinfo. "They have a couple of genuinely world-class players in Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, and then guys like Jesse Ryder who really could be right up there as well. They certainly have the potential to be a very competitive team.

"Australians and New Zealanders have a healthy sporting rivalry, but when you get right down to it, they communicate well. I feel the experience I have gained at Sri Lanka and the West Indies would hold me in good stead, but we will just have to wait and see if anything comes of it."

John Wright and Steve Rixon have both been touted as contenders for the New Zealand coaching post, although neither is guaranteed the position. Wright, the former India coach and current NZC high performance manager, has previously expressed reservations about returning to touring life, while Rixon has not held down an international post since he left the New Zealand job a decade ago.

Wright this week received the strong endorsement of Martin Snedden, the former NZC chief executive, however the incumbent CEO, Justin Vaughan, was somewhat less effusive when assessing Wright's claims to the job. "We all want to get the best of John Wright, we all want to get the best out of the Black Caps and we want the best equipped to do that and I'm not sure if all those three lines intersect," Vaughan told the Dominion Post.

Dyson, meanwhile, confirmed he would not pursue legal action against the West Indies board over his surprise sacking in August. "It's done with," he said. "It is disappointing that no official has yet had the courtesy to explain why I was terminated, but I am not going to push it any further. It was certainly disappointing that just a couple of months after we were being hailed as heroes for beating England - which I told them at the time was dangerous - they decided to replace me as coach."