English professional Charlie Hartley has been hired as player/coach to turn around the fortunes of the Whanganui representative side this summer.
English professional Charlie Hartley has been hired as player/coach to turn around the fortunes of the Whanganui representative side this summer.
Cricket Wanganui has gone to the English professional ranks in a bid to lift the performance of representative players this season.
Charlie Hartley, 25, has been headhunted from the professional ranks in England to guide the Whanganui men through the 2018/2019 season as player/coach.
Hartley most recently played for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-arm swing bowler who bats right-handed and made his first class cricket debut for Kent against Leicestershire in July, 2014.
Hartley was born in Redditch in Worcestershire and attended Millfield School where he played in the First XI. Having played for Worcestershire and Somerset youth teams and appearing for the Kent Second XI during the 2013 season, he signed a professional contract with the club in September, 2013
The acid test for Hartley begins with the first representative game of the season on November 10 against powerhouse Hawke's Bay.
Hartley played for Kent during the 2014 season, twice in first class matches and twice in List A matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand A.
He made two List A appearances in the 2016 Royal London One Day Cup, returning his best bowling figures in List A cricket of 2/26 against Gloucestershire and was rewarded with a one-year contract extension at the end of the 2016 season. Hartley has also played grade cricket in NSW, Australia.
Hartley played club cricket for Durbanville in the Western Province Cricket Association in South Africa during the 2016−17 English winter.
He injured a shoulder while fielding for the club and, as a result, missed Kent's matches in the 2016–17 Regional Super50 competition in the Caribbean during January and February 2017.
After rehabilitation work on the injury he travelled to Tanzania to play for St Gobain Strikers in the Advanced Players League T20 competition, part of a group of 12 overseas players brought in to strengthen the competition.
Hartley played against the touring West Indians on August 6, 2017 during the 166th Canterbury Cricket Week. He took 4/80 in the first innings and a total of 6 wickets in the drawn match as the tourists struggled against a young Kent bowling attack.
The acid test for Hartley begins with the first representative game of the season on November 10 against powerhouse Hawke's Bay.
Hutt International's Nikunj Patel bowling to Collegiate's Bruce Donald with wicket keeper Logan Slee in February.
A warm-up match has been arranged for November 4 against Wellington A on Tasman Tanning ground 1 at Victoria Park in Whanganui.
Meanwhile, Cricket Wanganui will announce a major corporate prior to the Hawke's Bay game as the team's naming sponsor.
Chairman and former Black Cap Stu Gillespie and NZC/CD high performance coach Dilan Raj have been instrumental in winter preparation for the squad and this week the group returns to outdoor grass practices at Victoria Park.
Gillespie and Raj are excited about the potential in the Whanganui players, especially in the U17 and U19 ranks and look forward to Hartley developing them further over the season after he arrives in the River City on Wednesday.
