Andy Moles to be Black Caps Coach

[irottev]

Moles was confirmed as John Bracewell's replacement at a press conference today.

Bracewell's five-year tenure in the position is set to end next April.

Last week the Waikato Times revealed Moles was in a two-horse race for the job with New South Wales coach Matthew Mott.

While Mott yesterday revealed he had opted to stay with NSW, it is understood New Zealand Cricket may have decided at the weekend to go with Moles ahead of Mott.

Moles, a former English county cricket batsman with Warwickshire, is in his third season in charge of the Northern Knights. He led them to the State Championship crown in his first season as coach in 2006/2007 but the side's best finish last season was as runner-up in the Twenty20 competition.

He has overseen the development of current ND Black Caps internationals Tim Southee and Daniel Flynn and is held in high regard for his technical knowledge and motivational abilities.

Moles' departure from Northern Districts may open the coaching door for former Black Cap and ND stalwart Grant Bradburn, currently in charge of the ND A team.

Cricket NSW chief executive Dave Gilbert said he was elated with Mott's decision to stay with the Blues.

"It was up in the air there for a while, but in the end he felt there was still work to do with our current batch of players,'' and decided to stay,' Gilbert said.

www.stuff.co.nz

I for one am really nervous, i'd rather Mott had the job. Firstly he's a pom, that's not a big problem because he lives here and stuff, but still someone like John Wright had played for New Zealand etc. Secondly he did an interview on the Cricket Company and said he didn't think players did enough mental work (which I think is absolute rubbish and all this mental crap just wears the players down). Thirdly he got sacked as Scotland coach after falling out with players (which happened with Bracewell too, so it seems like Bracewell Jr in the job now) At least he's experianced in first class cricket.

I think we're screwed, but we'll see.

 

[Ari]

Well at this point I would have been willing to try anyone. Just glad Bracewell is gone and gone after the next test.

I don't want to judge him yet and I am willing to give him a bit of time before I say this was a good or bad move. But at least he was a batsman and will understand that side of the game more than Bracewell.

 

[aussie1st]

Good luck to him, certainly got a tough ask to rebuild the NZ side. Don't know much about him and the only candidate I knew about was Mott.

 

[Crew of Black]

I guess he isn't everyone's first choice, but i'm just glad Bracewell is gone. Like Ari said he has more batting knowledge than Bracewell, which should mean a much better preperation for batsman, which is the main thing former players said Bracewell did so poorly during his tenure.

The only worrying thing was the Scottish players quitting on him, but he's dealing with a young side, which shouldn't be so resistent to his coaching philosophy compared to the Scottish team which had a lot of older players in it, so that problem is less likely to occur with our side.

 

[angryangy]

I don't think Matt Mott would have been a great choice either, he's only been coaching for about 4 years and his record as head coach at NSW is lacklustre as yet. Wait and see what he does with these 'baby Blues', then judge whether he's good, because developing a great team means a lot more than just showing up at a team that's already hot. Like with Victoria, Shipperd's Vics have had a lot of success, but he inherited a star team from his predecessor, David Hookes.

 

[irottev]

We have some young guys and they don't need to be screwed by the coaching methods. This is probably the most crucial period to select a decent coach. I just wish John Wright applied for the job.

 

[RoboRocks]

One I'm a bit surprised wasn't thought of was Dipak Patel since I heard he'd applied for the job and since he has been coaching the U19 team, he would be a prime candidate.