Retired New Zealand spin great Daniel Vettori on Thursday replaced Australia’s Stuart Law as coach of Twenty20 Big Bash League franchise Brisbane Heat for the next three seasons.
The Kiwi retired following New Zealand’s loss to Australia in the World Cup final and the 36-year-old is now free to continue his coaching career.
“It is a big job but one that I am excited about tackling,” Vettori was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia on Thursday.
He confirmed his retirement from playing upon arriving home here on Tuesday and will once again take up his role as coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting April 8, for the second year.
“I found my initial experience as the coach of Bangalore in the IPL to be very rewarding last year and so I am grateful to them for allowing me this additional opportunity to develop my coaching skills and background,” he said.
The left-arm spinner is regarded as one of the best players ever to have played for New Zealand.
He took 705 wickets and scored almost 7000 runs in an international career that spanned three decades.
“It has been a few big months for everyone with the World Cup but I am pleased to begin getting myself ready for what comes next. I’m look forward to getting to work with the Heat in a month or so and building towards the next season and beyond,” Vettori said.
Vettori was an accomplished player capturing 15 wickets at 20.46 in the just concluded World Cup and was later named in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) “Team of the Tournament”.
“Dan coming on board for the next three BBL seasons will certainly assist us with finalising the bulk of our recruiting and planning for the coming year,” Queensland cricket high performance manager Brett Jones said on Thursday.
“We’re delighted to have Dan back with us, considering it is a relationship that goes back more than five years ago to the original Big Bash when he played for Queensland,” Jones said.
