The New Zealand Cricket board will meet on Friday to rubber-stamp the appointment of former Australian coach John Buchanan as the organisation's first director of cricket.
The job was created to oversee NZ Cricket's entire high-performance programme, which includes the Black Caps. As reported by Fairfax Media on Friday, Buchanan is the clear frontrunner for the position.
Former England coach Duncan Fletcher, who last year spent some time in camp with the Black Caps during their tour to the subcontinent, and India's world cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten were the other names linked to the role.
Buchanan has played a straight bat to the speculation but it's understood he will be offered a contract on Friday if, as expected, the NZ Cricket board agrees he is the right fit.
Buchanan was the Australian coach between 1999 and 2007 and has worked as a cricket consultant since. He will become arguably the most powerful man in New Zealand cricket after NZ Cricket boss Justin Vaughan when he is appointed.
The appointment needs to be made before a decision is made on the replacement for Daniel Vettori as Black Caps skipper.
"I can certainly confirm we've met with John," Vaughan said yesterday.
"He's got great credentials for the role but we've spoken to a few candidates and ultimately there will be a recommendation made to the New Zealand Cricket board on Friday."
The director of cricket is expected to play a major role in the appointment of a new national selection panel and the next Black Caps captain.
The current panel members – Mark Greatbatch, Glenn Turner and Lance Cairns – are off contract at the end of this month.
Insiders are split on whether Turner will keep his job. One said yesterday he'd be "staggered" if he did. But another said New Zealand was "too small a place" to shut the door on anyone with such cricketing expertise. It's also unclear what the fate of Greatbatch and Cairns will be.
While a decision is yet to be made on whether national coach John Wright will get his desire and be added to the panel, it's understood he will at least have a greater say in selections.
One source said yesterday the key requirements for national selectors from here on in would be "good communication and organisation skills" and an understanding of NZ Cricket's high-performance system.
White Ferns coach Gary Stead is one possible candidate.
Vaughan refused to speculate on whether any new faces would appear on the panel, saying the director of cricket needed to be in place first. "We would look to reappoint a national selection panel pretty quickly," Vaughan said, "but there is a selection process to go through around that."
Only once the selectors are in place will NZ Cricket set about deciding who will be the next Black Caps captain.
Turner and Greatbatch are understood to favour Ross Taylor for the top job ahead of Brendon McCullum. But if they are no longer in the frame, as one source said yesterday, "all bets are off".
Meanwhile, despite suggestions Vettori could be persuaded to stay on as test captain, such a scenario is unlikely.
After the world cup semifinal in Sri Lanka, the 32-year-old said he was "99.9% sure" his days of captaining New Zealand in any format were over.
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