Bob Carter relinquishes NZC high performance director post after holding the position for a span of 21 long years.
Bob Carter steps away from NZC high performance role after 21 years.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced on Friday that Bob Carter, the former head coach of the New Zealand Women, will be leaving his position as the high-performance coach. That will conclude a 21-year tenure during which he managed the development of both the women’s and men’s teams in New Zealand.
“I feel like I’ve lived the dream,” Carter said in an NZC release. “I’ve very much enjoyed offering support and contributing and, if that’s helped players or teams go on and achieve success, then that’s terrific – I’m delighted.
“But I think what’s worked best at NZC has been the combinations, the teamwork, and the cooperation.”
Before becoming a coach, Carter, who was born in Norfolk, East England, played 60 first-class games and 55 List-A games for Canterbury and Northamptonshire. In 2004, he joined the New Zealand men’s team as John Bracewell’s assistant coach. Following a five-year stint, he was once more named Mike Hesson’s assistant coach from 2012 to 2014 before succeeding Haidee Tiffen as head coach of the New Zealand Women’s team in 2019. Before resigning, he served as their coach for the 2020 T20 World Cup and the 2022 ODI World Cup, which was held by New Zealand.
“We’ve been able to create sides that have been greater than their sum of parts, and that’s a key ingredient in team sport,” Carter, who will work in cricket as an independent contractor, said. “Sure, the individual performance is important, but it’s the collective that has the greater potential. That’s where the magic is.”
The 65-year-old Carter expressed his satisfaction in leaving the position in Lincoln at a time when New Zealand is winning international cricket matches. While the men’s team thrashed India in a Test series in India last year, the women’s team won the T20 World Cup for the first time. No side had beaten India at home in a Test series since 2012, much less returned a clean sweep.
“It’s true that the game has evolved a great deal over the past twenty years,” he said. “But the flipside is that the basics and fundamentals of batting and bowling have never really changed.
“Sure, the batters are playing shots we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the nineties, and the bowlers are producing options and change-ups with an incredible degree of difficulty. But within all that, the framework that allows the players to execute so successfully, is still the same as it was 50 years ago.
“Our domestic cricket is very strong. I’m not sure that’s widely recognised. The reason the Black Caps have continued to produce great batters and bowlers is because we have a strong, underlying domestic system. The White Ferns have been in transition over the past couple of years, but the domestic competitions have brought new players through and invigorated the established ones.
“The World Cup win last year was a great example of what that team is capable of.”