England-bound Larsen leaving Black Caps selector role

The new Black Caps selector Gavin Larsen.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Black Caps selector Gavin Larsen is to step down from his position at New Zealand Cricket to take on the role of performance director at the Warwickshire County Cricket Club (WCCC).

Larsen will move to England with his wife Karen and will be based out of the WCCC’s headquarters at Edgbaston, overseeing the county’s men’s and women’s high performance programmes.

A former New Zealand Test and ODI player, Larsen was the chief executive of Cricket Wellington, and the cricket operations manager ahead of the 2015 World Cup, before being appointed Black Caps selection manager in 2015.

In the subsequent years, the New Zealand men’s team have played in the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final and the 2021 T20 World Cup Final; have won the inaugural World Test Championship and have, at different times, been ranked as the world’s No.1 team in each of the three formats.

Larsen said he was extremely grateful to NZC for the opportunity to work alongside the Black Caps’ two most successful coaches, first Mike Hesson, and then Gary Stead.

“The past seven and a half years have just flown by and I’ve relished and enjoyed every minute of it,” Larsen said.

“The discussions and deliberations have been robust and challenging but my enduring memory will always be the quality of the people I’ve worked with – from high performance right through to the administration.”

“I’ve had the time of my life.”

Larsen said the new role at Edgbaston represented a new chapter in his career.

“I have a number of great memories of playing at Edgbaston during my New Zealand playing days and the atmosphere was simply terrific.”

NZC’s general manager of high performance Bryan Stronach said the process to find a replacement for Larsen would commence in due course.

– RNZ