The only New Zealand cricketer who can put himself in Dan Vettori's shoes and appreciate his thinking on wanting to be a national selector is "100 per cent" behind him.
Vettori this week was confirmed as a full voting member of the four-man New Zealand panel, with national coach Andy
Moles and former test batsmen Glenn Turner and Mark Greatbatch.
Although the bespectacled allrounder is the first New Zealand skipper to be an official panel member in the modern professional era, John Reid did several years on the panel from the late 1950s. He can relate to Vettori's move as his motivation for doing so was similar.
Reid had led a poorly chosen, inexperienced team to England in 1958 and they got thumped 4-0 by a powerful English team. On his return Reid told the board he wanted a say.
"I wanted to be a selector because I wanted to have some control in the team I was going to captain," Reid said.
"Certainly to talk [with the selectors] about tactics and have a say in implementing them off the field, so I could use them on the field."
Vettori wants to improve New Zealand's standing, and figures having influence on selection is a key to that.
"He's got my full blessing, without doubt," said Reid, now 81 and as forceful in his opinions as in his heyday. "You can't captain a side if you haven't got confidence in the players, and you've got to have a say in the players."
Reid, a terrific allrounder who played 58 tests as a hard-hitting middle order batsman averaging 33.28 and an aggressive medium pacer, would have been tailormade for the one-day and Twenty20 games.
A former International Cricket Council match referee, Reid managed a New Zealand under-19 team to England in 1996 including Vettori and he's got plenty of time for the current captain.
"He's forthright and he's clued up."
