Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

Uncertainty about what to do next was overcome with an offer in 2005 to become high performance manager of New Zealand Cricket [NZC]. 31 Martin Snedden, the NZC chief executive, welcomed the appointment of a man ‘who was a world leader in the field of high performance sport and had the right mix of skills’ to succeed John Reid in the position: ‘He will drive NZC’s high-performance programs forward so that we continue to compete effectively in international cricket and move closer to our strategic aim of dominating at the top level.’ Ric was keen to take up a position that ‘was relatively new in their structure’ but told Snedden in a phone call that he could probably do it for only two or three years ‘because if the hockey job comes up I’ll want it. Snedden said that was fine.’ He took up the position in October 2005 at the high performance centre at Lincoln University, Christchurch, on South Island and thus, like Perth, a city distant from other large urban areas. The manager’s job ‘was basically overseeing the elite part of the game – men’s and women’s.’ Ric was surprised to learn that Christchurch was ‘the driest part of New Zealand, also the coldest! They had three pitches there. They play national championships there at under-age level, women’s level and pre-season warm-up games for the first-class players. Part of the job was to work with the national team, but essentially John Bracewell was the coach: I provided advice, support, whatever. He had a two-year contract from September 2005, with an option for another year. His family settled in well, the people were lovely and the whole experience very enjoyable, so much so that he rejected an approach in May 2007 from Rod Marsh, the South Australian high performance manager, to coach that state’s cricket team. But his reported comment in The West Australian , that he wasn’t interested ‘at the moment’, implied he was always likely to leave New Zealand without taking up the third year option: ‘There are a range of options, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.’ The same newspaper’s report suggested that the imminent appointment of Tom Moody as coach of Western Australia – returning to his home 2002-2009 79 31 The following account of Charlesworth’s period with New Zealand Cricket is based on the author’s 30 April 2009 interview and a series of articles published on the internet by www.cricinfo.com: ‘NZ appoint hockey guru as high-performance manager’, 23 August 2005; ‘Charlesworth says no to South Australia post’, 2 May 2007; ‘Charlesworth quits New Zealand Cricket’, 17 October 2007; ‘Charlesworth slams New Zealand batting’, 21 November 2007; and ‘Ric Charlesworth to leave NZC’, 17 October 2007.