Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has been roped in by English county outfit Middlesex as their Twenty20 head coach for the NatWest T20 Blast, starting in 2017.
Vettori, who played 113 Tests and 295 ODIs for the Black Caps, has been busy with coaching stints ever since his retirement from international cricket in 2015. He is currently managing the Indian Premier League and Big Bash League sides Royal Challengers Bangalore and Brisbane Heat respectively.
Expressing his delight over the new role, the retired cricketer said:“I am very excited about the opportunity to be involved with Middlesex in their pursuit of a T20 title.Like all players I loved every opportunity to visit Lord’s and that won’t be any different as a coach but the main reason for my desire to be involved was the quality of the Middlesex playing squad.
There is talent and experience in all facets of their game and I look forward to complementing their skills and all the fantastic work the current coaching staff has done,” he added.
Vettori will be also be sharing his inputs with Middlesex’s head coach for other formats, Richard Scott and club’s two assistant coaches Richard Johnson and David Houghton.
Scott too looked happy to have the New Zealand legend as a part of the backroom staff.
Scott said:“I am delighted Daniel has agreed to join us as T20 coach and am very much looking forward to working closely with him and tapping in to his expertise. At Middlesex we pride ourselves on giving all the players the best possible support to develop as cricketers and people, and this is further indication that everyone at the club is driven to back up this year’s Championship success by competing and winning on all fronts.
Middlesex’s Managing Director of Cricket Angus Fraser said securing the services of Vettori will strengthen the team.
Stressing on the importance of having different coaches for different formats, Fraser said:“As a club, we are always looking to improve and signing Daniel will only strengthen what is already an outstanding coaching unit. Cricket is becoming ever more specialised. The skills required by players in the different forms of the game are wide-ranging – why should coaching be any different?”