Testing times for Peter Fulton
Peter Fulton is about to undertake his first assignment as Black Caps batting coach. It represents a considerable career change as
Peter Fulton will go from methamphetamine testing Christchurch homes to combating Sri Lankan spinners in his new day job.
Fulton begins his first tour of duty as Black Caps batting coach with New Zealand’s test contingent having departed for Sri Lanka yesterday.
The 40-year-old replaces Craig McMillan, who finished up after five years in the position after the Cricket World Cup.
Formulating plans for the Sri Lankan spinners and working alongside the Black Caps top order will be worlds away from Fulton’s previous occupation.
Over the past two years he was owner-operator of CSI Drug Testing, scoping out Christchurch properties for traces of methamphetamine.
Since being confirmed as McMillan’s replacement, Fulton ‘‘wrapped up’’ the business last month and will devote all his energy to what he called his dream role.
Fulton’s former job saw him going into Canterbury houses, testing for methamphetamine contamination, sending samples to the lab and writing reports.
‘‘I did enjoy owning my own business because you’re responsible for yourself rather than someone else,’’ Fulton told
Stuff. ‘‘Cricket has been a big passion of mine, so to get the chance to work in an industry that you’re passionate about is ideal, I guess.’’
Since retiring in April, 2017, after 16 first-class seasons for Canterbury, Fulton has built up his coaching resume.
He was part of the coaching staff for New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) winter training squad over the past two years and coached the Christ’s College first XI, his old school.
Fulton was batting coach for the New Zealand under 19s, operating alongside coach Paul Wiseman.
Black Caps coach Gary Stead, Fulton’s former Canterbury coach and captain, has previously said working outside cricket benefited his coaching and gave him life skills.
Fulton agreed. ‘‘It does give you a bit of perspective to do something else.
‘‘[Methamphetamine testing] was a really good experience, but ultimately the long-term plan was to get into coaching at some stage. This sort of job is always what I had my heart set on.’’
Batting coach for the Black Caps hasn’t always been a desirable role.
With skipper and run-scoring machine Kane Williamson among the finest batsmen in world cricket and the vastly experienced Ross Taylor cemented at No 4, New Zealand are blessed with quality.
Throw in the improving Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls and several exciting youngsters making their way at domestic level and New Zealand’s batting depth is the best it’s been in a long time.
Being batting coach to Williamson must be akin to a swimming guru trying to pick out tiny flaws in 23-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps’ stroke.
Stead learned the hard way when brought in for a brief stint as batting coach while McMillan took some family time in 2017. As the story goes, he tried to tinker with Williamson’s batting, which didn’t go down well.
Fulton won’t make the same mistake. He acknowledged with elite players it was more about being a mentor, rather than a ‘coach’ in the classic sense of the word.
The beauty with Williamson was he had an insatiable appetite to score runs and was never satisfied.
‘‘He never gets to that point where he thinks, ‘I’ve done it. I’ll just keep going the way I’m going’. He’s always trying to get better.
‘‘As a coach that’s what you’re
looking for. You want to work with players who want to get better because they’re not content to sit back and go, ‘I’ve got a great record, I’ve scored a lot of runs. I’ll just keeping doing what I’ve always done’. I think they’re quite open to being coached.’’
Fulton will have to contend with going from the brilliance of Williamson and Taylor to batsmen at the other end of the spectrum, breaking into the Black Caps for the first time. They will require a more delicate approach and greater one-on-one time in the nets.
Fulton learned from his former batting coaches that one method doesn’t fit for everyone.
‘‘There’s some times when players are going to be in really good form and you’re probably not having to do as much. Then there’ll be other times when guys are struggling and you need to try and find different ways to help them.
‘‘It’s not about saying there’s one way to do things. You’ve got to be flexible and you’ve got to be prepared to adapt.’’
Fulton, who played 49 ODIs, 23 tests, and 12 T20Is between 2004-14, knows the mental side of the game is just as important to batting as a sound technique.
Whether he can act as a sounding board or a fresh set of eyes to batsmen, he’s eager to get stuck in straight away in Sri Lanka.
‘‘Some of these guys have got great records and a lot of experience at international level.
‘‘You’re not really trying to teach them how to play a forward defence or a cover drive. You’re trying to make sure that when they go out there to bat they’re in the best possible frame of mind to score runs.’’
Fulton, who is contracted through to the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia next November, has a long relationship with Stead, whose contract ends at the same point.
Stead was Canterbury captain when Fulton made his first-class debut in the last match of the 2000-01 summer.
They were top order mainstays for Canterbury until Stead retired from the elite ranks in 2006. Fulton then captained Canterbury when Stead was coach of the domestic side.
While they have a strong professional relationship and plenty of respect for one another, they wouldn’t be afraid to call each other out when needed.
‘‘We’ve got that level of comfort where we can both speak our mind and we can have tough conversations and disagree at times if that’s what happens.
‘‘Ultimately we both know how each other works and we both know the end goal is trying to hopefully get better and hopefully win some games.’’
Getting New Zealand’s top order test batsmen prepared for turning tracks in Galle and Colombo will be some contrast to grotty ‘P’ contaminated Christchurch homes.
It’s a challenge Fulton is ready to tackle head on.
‘‘The last couple of times they’ve come to New Zealand, we certainly haven’t rolled out the red carpet for them [with pitches].
‘‘So I’m certain they won’t be doing the same for us. There’s an expectation the pitches are going to turn and they’re probably going to turn from pretty early on in the game.’’
‘‘Cricket has been a big passion of mine, so to get the chance to work in an industry that you’re passionate about is ideal.’’
Peter Fulton