Follow UsNew Zealand Cricket (NZC) have taken a strategic step to bolster their coaching team, enlisting the expertise of former captain Stephen Fleming, along with James Foster, Ian Bell, and Saqlain Mushtaq, who will serve as consultants on a rotational basis till the end of ICC Cricket World Cup in India. Leveraging the extensive coaching experience of Fleming and Foster in the Indian Premier League (IPL), New Zealand aim to gain a competitive edge.
"I think Flem will be great for players on that side of it and also good for the staff as well. 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,” New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said.
Foster was the fielding coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, apart from having stints in the PSL, CPL, BPL, BBL, and ILT20. He was also the coach of New Zealand for one series in 2018. He will now join as New Zealand's assistant coach for the England ODI series and the ODI World Cup in India.
"James spent a week with us in the UAE, think about four or five years ago when he was there. 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,” Stead said.
Meanwhile, England’s Ian Bell will be New Zealand's assistant coach for the upcoming T20I series against England, filling in for Luke Ronchi before the latter returns for the three-match ODI series in Bangladesh in September.