Cricket: NZC appoints Australian as high performance manager

New Zealand Cricket has appointed Ric Charlesworth, an Australian with a proven track record in hockey, as its new high performance manager.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said Charlesworth was a world leader in the field of high performance sport and boasted the right mix of skills and experience for the position.

Charlesworth replaces former New Zealand batsman John Reid, who has left NZC after a decade to accept a new role with Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc), the Government's sports funding agency.

"Ric has outstanding experience as a top sportsman, coach and high performance consultant," Snedden said today.

Charlesworth played more than 200 hockey internationals for Australia from 1972 to 1988, later coached the Australian women's hockey team to two Olympic gold medals and was named Australian coach of the year six times. As well, he has written four books on high performance coaching."

Charlesworth's cricket credentials include playing 47 first-class cricket matches for Western Australia from 1972 to 1979.

The high performance manager is based at NZC's high performance centre at Lincoln University near Christchurch.

The position is responsible for overseeing NZC's high performance programmes which range from elite player and coaching programmes to medical and sports science enhancement initiatives.

Charlesworth, a qualified doctor who was a federal member of parliament in Australia for a 10-year period until 1993, will take up the position on October 12.

- NZPA