Cricket: A new approach to coaching

The coaching structures at New Zealand Cricket are set for a radical overhaul.

High performance manager Ric Charlesworth said there was an increasing shift towards "specialisation" and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) was setting up a national network of coaches to tend to the individual needs of players.

There is a school of thought that the influx of foreign coaches into our first-class scene - four of the six major association coaches are from overseas - has limited career pathways for New Zealand-born coaches, but Charlesworth said the initiative would increase opportunities.

"Somebody like [former Wellington coach] Vaughn Johnson, for instance, would obviously be a candidate for a specialist bowling coach job. It's part of the strategic aim of New Zealand Cricket.

"Those coaches will be vertically integrated into New Zealand cricket so they might not only be coaching a Black Cap but also the best 14-year-old in their area. It's a really important development."

There was a hint of it last year when Australian Mike Young was brought in to work on the Black Caps fielding.

"Really, your national team needs a specialist fielding coach. Cricket has to go that way," Charlesworth said, "because there aren't too many 'generalists' who are on top of every bit of it. The head coach becomes the co-ordinator."

There could be a group of batting and bowling coaches who would act almost as on-call consultants, as Charlesworth said having one batting and one bowling coach assigned to the Black Caps was fraught. "It's rare that one size fits all."

NZC are hoping to have the new system in place within a year but he said there are still "resource issues" to deal with.

Charlesworth did not believe it was an issue that there were only two first-class coaches - Mark O'Donnell at Auckland and Mike Hesson at Otago - who were New Zealanders.

He would be just as happy seeing our coaches gain international experience, as John Bracewell did at Gloucestershire, before returning to impart theirknowledge.

"Just as people come here, our guys go there. The coaching programmes we're developing are pretty damn good. Gary Stead has been responsible for introducing a whole range of new modules which make up the Level III which are pretty progressive. That will lead to good quality coaches being produced in New Zealand. It would be nice if all our domestic teams were coached by 'locals' but, in other ways, the influence of outside people is good.

"The answer isn't to close the market and say we're only going to take local people. The answer is to upskill the people here as much as we can."

There was some surprise that when Johnson and Bruce Blair left their posts at Wellington and Northern Districts respectively last season, New Zealanders were passed over for the roles.

Northern Districts chief executive David Cooper said it was a matter of getting the right man for the job in a semi-professional environment.

He said the appointment of Englishman Andy Moles was based on his reputation for innovation.

South African Dave Nosworthy and former England batsman Graham Barlow are in charge at Canterbury and Central Districts respectively, while former Australian bowler Anthony Stuart has taken over in the capital.