Cricket: NZ A role bowls Cunis over

Stephen Cunis, Northland cricket coach, is moving up the coaching ranks nationally, after being selected as the New Zealand A bowling coach for their tour of England and Scotland in August.Photo/John Stone

Northland cricket coach Stephen Cunis seems to be following in his dad's footsteps, after being named as the bowling coach for New Zealand A's tour of England and Scotland in August.

The news came as a surprise to Cunis, after knowing some of those who were shortlisted with him.

He told the Advocate he would keep his approach simple with the players, and hoped to learn plenty which he would bring back to the region.

"I was absolutely rapt to be shortlisted as a start," he said and laughed. "I thought I may as well throw my hat in the ring. I know a couple of guys who didn't get short-listed and I know they're pretty handy within coaching roles.

"I'm not going to work with the players long enough to change them technically, and I don't see that as my role, my role on the tour and leading up is to prepare them in a tactical sense and give them ideas."

Within Cunis' job on tour he will set about educating the New Zealand A players, some of whom are touted as likely to be a part of the Black Caps' World Cup team next year.

"It's about different roles for different scenarios, but they need to think on their feet.

"With batting, bowling and coaching, if you can separate emotion of a confrontation then it's much easier to realise or calculate what your next step is.

"In cricket there's always going to be confrontation between batter and bowler and if a bowler can step away from it and see what will work best for them and the team [that's the way forward]."

The Northland Cricket Association's operations manager said he knew touring with New Zealand A would be a great opportunity to develop his coaching skills.

His father, Bob, coached the Black Caps between 1987 and 1990, something Cunis says he doesn't aspire to yet.

Cunis said he was extremely thankful for the efforts of the Northland Cricket Association and the board in standing by him, allowing him to take up such opportunities with the expectation he would bring the knowledge back to Northlanders.

Northland Cricket general manager Warren Marr said Cunis' selection in the role was an indication of the region's coaching strength.

"We're extremely proud of him, as an association," Marr said. "I've been here for a year ... we have the best coaching as a district association and this is just testament to what Steve has done.

"I think there's two points for [Northland Cricket], we can see the development that our young - and even adult - cricketers are making.

"And what he's going to bring back from working with the top cricketers will be gold for us and we'll expect him to come back and implement it."