CRICKET - Northland cricket scores with top man for new job

Northland cricket officials are congratulating themselves after pulling off a major recruitment coup by signing former Central Districts' coach Graham Barlow as their operations manager.
The role is a new position this year for Northland Cricket and CEO Gary Bell said his primary job would be to oversee the administration of club cricket throughout the region.
"Graham has had a very successful time as the Central Stags coach but decided not to reapply for his position this year and has moved North in search of a lifestyle change," Bell said.
Barlow's wife found a job at the Montessori school in Matakana, north of Warkworth, and for now the couple will live there.
"We're so stoked we've been able to lure him here because he's got a huge background in cricket, going back to the test level for England."
Barlow, 58, only played three tests for England but had a long and successful career for Middlesex as a professional before beginning his coaching career in South Africa.
He moved to New Zealand in 1995 and worked with Taranaki Cricket and then Marlborough Cricket before taking the reins over at Central Districts in 2004.
With CD, he won the State Championship in 2005-06 and State Twenty20 competition this season, as well as reaching the State Shield finals in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Barlow's arrival at Northland cricket coincides with the association taking control of club cricket here. In the past, the Whangarei and Districts Association has administered the weekly club cricket but this year Northland Cricket takes over and Barlow's selection as operations manager is seen as a vital part of improving the competition.
"What we really want to do in club cricket, is make it more exciting and encourage more people to come back into the game," Bell said.
Barlow will face challenges in his new position when he starts at the beginning of next month Bell said, and one of those will be to encourage the regrowth of the game in the province.
One of the seven premier grade clubs in 2007-8, Bledisloe, is unlikely to field a team in competition this season after pulling out of the final competition of last season. That means there will be no cricket clubs operating north of Whangarei.
"That's one of Graham's challenges to get cricket up and going in the outlying areas again," Bell said.
Barlow's new role will also oversee the organisation's coaching staff, including two full-time staff as well as six full-time seasonal coaches and two part-time junior coaches.
The former middle-order batsman will be a valuable addition to the Northland team Bell believes.
"The beauty of this for us is that Graham also has a real strength as a batting coach as well, which balances up our coaching team as well,"
Along with top bowling coach Karl Treiber, Barlow should fit in well. ``There's a definite feeling that we've got the right people in the right places to move forward,' Bell said.