Cricket: Reeve's CD future uncertain

The Dermot Reeve coaching saga is set to continue.

Central Districts meet Auckland in today's Twenty20 final at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth but, if you believe members of the team, it seems to be in spite of rather than because of Reeve's coaching abilities.

A decision is yet to be made whether Reeve will continue as CD coach after the HRV Cup final.

He is expected to return from his Sydney base to meet with CD chief executive Blair Furlong within the next fortnight. Furlong is also likely to meet with the team during their time in New Plymouth to clear the air.

There is some doubt Reeve will even be at the final. He strained ligaments in his foot and is constrained by a moonboot which is severely limiting his mobility.

Reeve's tenure with CD is one of bluster and bravado, a triumph of style over substance, as he flitted between moments of genius and eccentricity.

His stint roared into life at the start of last season with three outright wins to rock the four-day championship. There was enough momentum for CD to make the final, only to lose to Auckland.

The Stags finished fourth in the one-day matches and fifth in the Twenty20 competition. This season, they're sitting fourth in the Plunket Shield and third in the one-dayers.

Despite that, there's a feeling Reeve's presence has been merely tolerated for some time. He hasn't lost the dressing room as a whole because a number of players across the age/experience spectrum still enjoy his free spirit and love contemplating some of his random thoughts rather than getting bogged down in time-honoured dressing room cliches of the get-plenty-of-runs-but-don't-get out variety.

His position has not been helped, though, by unproven claims opposition teams have been ball-tampering. Firstly he was fined $750 for accusing Auckland's Ravi Bopara of picking at the seam in a failed CD one-day run chase last month. He then singled out Otago's Yasir Arafat for performing a similar act in a Twenty20 match.

If Reeve is seen as dragging down morale, the drive behind any of the Stags' on-field success has been credited to captain Jamie How. His dedicated leadership, now he's out of the Black Caps environment, has galvanised the team.

A source close to the team says How has been a quiet achiever, some might say furtive, in Reeve's larger-than-life shadow.

"Jamie's led well. He's a smart guy who treated it as his personal project. He's had good senior players around him and also used former Black Caps psychologist Gary Hermansson to bounce ideas off.

"I'm told there's been a lot of informal late night hotel meetings, knocking on senior players' doors."

In Reeve's defence, the evidence suggests there's no doubt he can still be a fun man in a team environment.

That stretches back to his time playing for Warwickshire and England before he embarked on a career as an incisive commentator with the UK's Channel 4.

That only ended after a newspaper splash on a cocaine addiction.

One CD player claims: "He's the first person I would invite to any party. His Imran Khan impressions are hilarious."