Greg Shipperd signs two-year extension with NSW as he is committed to helping a young team return to the top.
Veteran NSW and Sixers coach Greg Shipperd signs two-year extension.
One of the most well-known coaches in the nation, Shipperd, 68, has served as a crucial mentor to numerous Australian coaches and athletes, including Andrew McDonald, the current national men’s coach.
In addition to his Sixers position, which he has had since 2015, he was given a caretaker role with New South Wales in 2022–2023 after coaching Tasmania and Victoria to considerable success, including four Sheffield Shield titles.
After agreeing to a two-year extension, he will increase his tenure in NSW to four years and his stint with the Sixers to twelve. He was appointed the permanent head coach of NSW in May 2023.
“You have to be careful not to overstay your welcome,” Shipperd told ESPNcricinfo. “But I’m particularly thrilled in being involved with Cricket New South Wales. It’s steeped in history and it’s got high expectations, and I like to operate within that framework. We’ve got an exciting opportunity with an emerging group of players to build a foundation that can stand the test of time.
“The mind still is going at 100 miles an hour, but the body’s slowing down. But I’ve got some wonderful support coaches around and the system itself behind the Blues team that represents in the Shield and other competitions is first-class.”
With the Sixers finishing in the top two of the table in each of the last five seasons, winning the title twice, and finishing second once during that time after losing the final in his second season as coach in 2016–17, Shipperd’s record with the team has been outstanding. The Sixers have not finished lower than third in the eight-team competition in the last six seasons.
However, he has yet to complete his duties with NSW, especially in the Shield. When the Blues finished last in 2022–2023 for the first time in 13 seasons, he assumed leadership. Despite being in the running for the final in the final round of both Shield seasons, NSW finished third and fourth in the previous two seasons. Additionally, they lost the Dean Jones Trophy final.
“Progress is being made,” Shipperd said. “We had some real challenges in terms of the depth of our squad and our Australian player representation across the course of the year took away some of our next level players in [Sean] Abbott, [Ben] Dwarshuis, and [Tanveer] Sangha, and so for us to be playing off for a grand final spot in the last game of both competitions meant that we’re very, very competitive. And so I’m really pleased about that.
“The next step for us is to win those crunch games more often than we did, in particular at the back end of last year.”