Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is set to join the New Zealand coaching staff, along with former England players Ian Bell and James Foster, prior to New Zealand’s white-ball series against England.
Fleming will join the coaching staff for the four-match ODI series against England, while Bell will be New Zealand’s assistant coach for the T20I series in England. He will then switch to the role of batting coach for the ODI series against England, as well as Bangladesh.
“I think Flem [Fleming] will be great for players on that side of it and also good for the staff as well,” New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said. “He’s got [an] immense amount of knowledge in that part of the world [India] and has coached in the IPL right from the start of the competition [from 2009], so he’s coached in all those areas where we’re going to play in. So, it might just be the little one-two percenters you can get from that information that could tip the results on your side as well. If things go well you can pick up on some of those small things.”
They will be joined by former English wicketkeeper James Foster, who played seven Tests for England.
Foster will be Black Caps assistant coach for the England ODI series and the 50-overs World Cup in India, which starts this October.
“James spent a week with us in the UAE, think about four or five years ago when he was over there,” Gary Stead said. “He might have even been playing at the time. But it’s great that he has come back. He will come to the World Cup; he’s got a lot of experience in the IPL with the KKR side and in an assistant coach role there he’s worked with video analysts, so will give us a lot of, I think, information and knowledge for us to consider when we approach all the different venues in the World Cup.”
New Zealand performance manager Simon Insley said the backroom changes will spread the workload among the coaching staff.
“The well-being of our players and staff is of vital importance with the sheer amount of cricket being played these days,” Insley said.
“Following the T20 team’s departure to the UAE (Aug 12), the team will be on the road right through until December 16 when the Test team returns, ahead of a busy home summer,” he added.
He also shared his ‘delight’ in the abilities of New Zealand’s coaching staff which will help boost the team’s morale and performance in the upcoming tours.
“We’re delighted with the calibre of coaches we’ve been able to confirm to assist the Black Caps,” he added.
“Ian Bell has had a broad range of experiences as batting coach since retiring,” Insley said. “James Foster has worked with a number of our Black Caps through his extensive coaching history.”