Cricket: Hesson welcomes extra two years

Mike Hesson
Mike Hesson
Black Caps coach Mike Hesson will continue to coach the national side for another two years after the 2015 World Cup.

The 39-year-old has extended his contract until April 2017, but his stint could so easily have come to an abrupt end after about six months.

The controversial decision to axe Ross Taylor as captain shortly after taking the reins in 2012 was not received at all well.

Talkback was busy for months. But the 39-year-old has won over the public, leading the national side to home series wins against India and the West Indies and to a rare test series victory in the West Indies.

The decision to extend his contract is a vote of confidence in the job he is doing but also in the progress the Black Caps have made under his leadership.

''There is some certainty there which is great,'' Hesson said. ''You feel like you are able to make a significant difference over a period of time and that is what I'm most pleased about.

''I think we've been pretty consistent in all forms during the last 12 months and we've gained an awful lot of ground in terms of world rankings.

''We are certainly much closer to the pack than we were 12 months ago, so that's exciting.''

New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said he was delighted Hesson had chosen to extend his contract.

''It's great news for the players and for the sport to have consistency in this role for our flagship team for nearly five years,'' he said.

''Mike has worked incredibly hard to build our relatively young test team into one that is now challenging the top sides in the world.''

The Black Caps will play plenty of cricket in the next year but one event in particular sticks out. The 2015 World Cup is being jointly staged in Australia and New Zealand and consumes much of Hesson's mental energy.

''It is a huge event and it is one that we have a great opportunity to perform well in front of our home crowd. That is something we are all desperate to do. But in order to do that there is a heck of a lot of hard work that goes into in.''

The Black Caps have 17 one-day internationals scheduled ''between now and then ... so we've got a lot of opportunity to finalise that squad and there is certainly a lot of competition for places at the moment''.

Hesson, who coached Otago for six seasons and also had a stint with the Kenyan national side, said managing players' workloads during the next 12 months was crucial.

''There is no way any player can play every game.''

That applies to the coaching staff and management as well, although Hesson said he was still working through whether he would take a mini-break at some stage.

On the question of Jesse Ryder, Hesson said the door was not closed to the talented Otago and Essex left-hander.

''It is good to see Jesse is playing well in England ... he will be discussed but the I think the key thing is we have to make sure all our players prepare themselves well for international cricket. That is what we look at with all our players.''

Ryder was dropped from the test squad in February after it was revealed he went out drinking with Doug Bracewell on the eve of a match.

New Zealand Cricket is expected to make an announcement on the Black Caps batting coach in the next few days.

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