The pair and their inability to work together were at the centre of Wright's shock decision to quit the job last month - "We see things a little differently," said Wright at the time, "[and] the planning systems that John wants to implement are probably suited to another head coach. I think it's just a difference of style. It would be fair to say we're probably more comfortable coaching against each other, which we did for 4.5 years. But it's part of sport."
Buchanan is content with the amount of pre-tour preparation, pointing out that the team will have some additional time together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida ahead of the first Twenty20 match.
"They may not be coming together as a team [here] but the individuals are out doing their own thing," Buchanan told the Herald on Sunday. "I'm comfortable with what is happening."
Officially, the reason being given for the refusal to hold training camps is budget, at an estimated cost of close to six figures. Other sources say Wright, regarded as an intuitive coach with less regard for the bureaucratic and administrative parts of the job, waited too long to schedule the camps, well after NZC budgets and schedules had been confirmed.
If budget is the culprit, other parts of NZC's expenditure is going on transtasman air fares for Buchanan and some for Australian coaching assistants Damien Wright and Trent Woodhill.
Despite signing a four-year contract in May last year, Buchanan regularly commutes back to his Brisbane home after spending the working week in New Zealand, based in his Christchurch flat. His name is still attached to businesses in Australia. "He obviously has a provision in his contract that allows him to be offshore a lot," said one cricket source, who estimated that Buchanan spends about one quarter of his time in Australia. "It might be the way of the modern world but it probably isn't ideal."
Former New Zealand Tennis CEO Steve Walker had a commuting arrangement back in 2009 but it only lasted a few months before both parties agreed it was untenable.
As part of his contract, NZC is understood to be covering his travel from Christchurch to Brisbane. The Herald on Sunday asked NZC CEO David White whether it was true that Buchanan spent three weeks in New Zealand and then a week in Australia over a four-week cycle. White said that was incorrect, adding: "He is fulltime in New Zealand. He is here [in Christchurch] most weeks and goes home on the weekends."
Asked if his NZC contract included a provision for regular return flights to Australia over a year, Buchanan said: "Those [kind of] things are a private arrangement with New Zealand Cricket.
"It's about being where I need to be to do the job," said Buchanan. "At any particular time that might be in Auckland, that might be in Christchurch, that might be Sydney or it might be Brisbane.
"I have shifted to New Zealand. I live in Christchurch," said Buchanan, "I live in Sumner. I'm here."
Buchanan is also director and principal of Buchanan Success Coaching, which offers corporate and sporting organisations half-day to multi-day workshops on subjects such as leadership, coaching and deriving high performance lessons from sport. After his highly successful stint as Australian coach, he remains a popular guest speaker with one Australian website, Platinum Speakers, offering his services for between A$5000 to A$10,000 ($6,447-$12,895).
"It's my own private business and it continues to run," Buchanan said of his coaching business. "It's part of my contract [with NZC] and if I can fit it in, I fit it in - if I can't, I don't. I don't think it affects what I do with NZC."
Buchanan's salary is understood to be around $300,000 per year. Before he picked up the New Zealand role he was in negotiations with Sri Lankan cricket for their head coach role but, according to one source, they declined salary demands of about US$350,000. NZC have now confirmed there will be only one coach for the Black Caps - there was talk of the test job being split from the short forms of the game, with a different coach for each - and it is unlikely Buchanan will have much interaction with the Black Caps. It's more likely he will maintain his strategic focus on New Zealand Cricket overall, not just on the Black Caps.
Buchanan took a New Zealand team to the Hong Kong Sixes last year. It is hardly a major event but it wasn't successful, with the team crashing out of the tournament early after successive losses. Buchanan, unhappy with the performance and effort, apparently made his feelings known to the team - some of whom then countered with their disappointment over the organisation of the trip. Sources close to the team have also said that Buchanan upbraided Rob Nicol for running round the boundary with his shirt flapping - the rebuke apparently earning a strong response from an angry Nicol to Buchanan in the dressing room.
However, there is a growing sense that cricket insiders are beginning to accept that Buchanan's ways have to be given a chance.
Wright's departure and Buchanan's apparent backing from the board of NZC brought more starkly into view the differences between Wright's preferred approach of one man at the top with a strong hand over all traditional selection and coaching matters and the new age, more corporate and scientific approach as practised by Buchanan, national selection manager Kim Littlejohn and others in the Buchanan camp.
Such differences can be polarising, particularly for former national cricketers from a different era or eras. In support of this story, the Herald on Sunday spoke to many national cricketers of varying vintages. Most asked not to be named and many were critical of Buchanan's methods.
"Buchanan is being portrayed as the great white hope," said one highly regarded cricketing personality, "but I would call him the great white coat. It's all one big experiment. We have seen this kind of thing before with [former coach] Ashley Ross and he ruined a generation of New Zealand batsmen."
"The events of the last few weeks have put the heat on John Buchanan and his structure to work," said former Black Cap Bruce Edgar, one of the few to be named. "John Wright had all the attributes, drive and determination that the New Zealand public like to see in sportsmen and it looks like it was becoming a positive culture within the dressing room. We have to give him a chance but now I guess it is up to Buchanan to prove himself."
"This is not a grand experiment," said CEO White. "John Buchanan is a lateral thinker but he is not radical. Elements of his approach are quite traditional and the high performance plan [which has been recently presented to the board] is reasonably conventional."
"There is no cause for alarm," says former Black Cap and national selector Dion Nash. "Buchanan brings some qualities and you have to assume he is committed." We can't continue to go for a middle of the road approach; we really have to try something different."
