The Board of Control for Cricket in India began its hunt for a foreign coach in right earnest by holding a round of consultations with two of the three candidates in the fray, Greg Chappell and John Wright at the Radisson Hotel in Chennai this afternoon. BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele was his usual petulant self. "We didn't invite the press. This is an in-house affair", he said dismissively.

However the BCCI president AC Muthiah who arrived shortly afterwards was more gracious. Muthiah claimed that apart from Chappell and Wright, a third candidate, Geoff Marsh was still in the fray. It may be recalled that Marsh had announced his withdrawal from the race in a press release issued by the Western Australian Cricket Association a few days ago.

Muthiah however disclosed that Marsh was still interested in the position. "The Board is expecting to have discussions with Marsh in a few days", said Muthiah. He made it clear that no decision would be taken immediately although the Board was keen to expedite the process. "We'll have to find out when they're ready. We would like them to take over as soon as possible", he said. He was however not willing to name a date by which the new appointee would be ready to assume office.

According to Muthiah, the Board was in the process of discussing terms and conditions with the candidates after which the matter would be put before the Board's working and finance committees. The Board President declared that the objective of the whole exercise of opting for a foreign coach was to come out victorious in the 2003 World Cup.

Muthiah firmly believed that all the Indian players were very keen to have a foreign coach, adding that the Board was still undecided on whether to appoint an assistant coach. The panel which interrogated Chappell and Wright today comprised of Muthiah, Lele, former Board President and Chairman of the National Cricket Academy Committee, Raj Singh Dungarpur, chief coach at the NCA, Hanumant Singh and another NCA Committee member, S Venkataraghavan. Chappell and Wright looked more like friends than rivals as they lunched with the panel and then left together for their rooms, deep in conversation, prior to being called up for separate interviews.

© CricInfo