Cricket: Pragmatic and logical just the NZ ticket

Bruce Edgar has mostly made the right moves since 2013. Photo / Dean Purcell

Hail the invisible puppeteer.

As the selection of New Zealand's one-day international first XI becomes a focus with 27 days until the World Cup, former international opener Bruce Edgar must take his share of plaudits for pulling consistent strings.

As part of a panel with coach Mike Hesson, they are yet to lose a test series and have won four out of six in the 50-over format . When it comes to harmony in selection, they are to cricket what Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are to music.

Too often credit is given solely to the players, but for Edgar to take over in August 2013 and deliver such results is hardly coincidence.

Sure, talent is moulded within the team environment, but players must still be found before they're nurtured. Edgar's methodical technique as a cricketer and acumen as a businessman has come to bear through dispassion as a selector.

He could have waltzed into a position on the New Zealand Cricket board but preferred a hands-on role. His skill-set is perfect as a respected former player who became a financial consultant and top level coach in NSW before returning home.

Edgar's self-effacing approach has been a strength since his playing days when, in a 39-test career, he scored centuries against the pace attacks of Pakistan's Sikander Bakht and Sarfraz Nawaz, the West Indies' Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft, and Australia's Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.

He would create his own cocoon within what he once termed his "space helmet". Bowlers stared him down and sledged while he responded with a minimum of body language. He likened it to extending his battery life by switching on and off between balls. If you can face that, you can deal with any dosage of public scrutiny.

As far as consensus characters go, Edgar's in the top echelon. His most aggressive on-field act was arguably giving Australia's Chappell brothers the fingers through sausage batting gloves after making a century in the 1981 underarm ODI.

The 58-year-old also bridges the generation gap. Contrasting examples include being best man at childhood mate Ian Smith's wedding and being held in such high regard now that he has been asked to present the Players Association Players' Cap. Edgar has also taken up voluntary work on The Cricketers Hardship Trust which helps past financially-stricken players and their families pay for the likes of medical treatment and funerals.

Selecting teams can mean lurching into spells of emotion and intuition. Edgar has dispatched those two impostors with pragmatism and logic.