Bradburn seeks Black Caps role

Northern Knights coach Grant Bradburn wants the Black Caps job – whatever it may entail.

Bradburn has told the Waikato Times he will apply for the national team’s coaching job, which may yet involve more than one head coach, guiding the teams in different formats.

The former test player has had outstanding success in the first-class arena with the Northern Districts side since taking over from Andy Moles during the 2008-09 season, when Moles began his short and controversial stint as Black Caps coach.

The Knights have won two of the past three Plunket Shield titles, while Bradburn has also guided them to two one-day Ford Trophy crowns.

Bradburn said he was still waiting for clarification on what New Zealand Cricket was looking for through the application process, but wanted to be involved. ‘‘It’s a role I’ve always been very keen to aspire to and it’d be a great honour,’’ Bradburn said. ‘‘I’m a very passionate New Zealander and passionate about cricket in our country.’’

When John Wright stood down as coach at the start of the month, it emerged that New Zealand Cricket was pondering employing separate coaches for the longer and shorter formats, with the possibility the test, one-day and Twenty20 sides could be guided by different coaches.

‘‘I’m waiting to hear from New Zealand Cricket and may get more info later on the role,’’ Bradburn said yesterday.

‘‘They may not be in a hurry to appoint someone, but I think my skills and experience would add value to the role.’’

Bradburn was reluctant to expand on whether he expected NZC to employ more than one head coach and if he backed that shift. ‘‘That’s quite a broad question – it depends on how they structure it and who the personnel are,’’ Bradburn said.

‘‘My philosophy at ND has been to utilise as many skilled specialist people as we can, to put the players first and foremost. Any head coach of a high performance sport needs to use those skills and to have the vision to provide the players with a full set of resources.’’

Bradburn employed three separate captains with the Knights last year – Brad Wilson for the Plunket Shield, James Marshall for the Trophy and Scott Styris for the HRV Cup Twenty20 competition – and admitted the demands of the modern game dictated that approach.

‘‘We’ve separated the three formats quite distinctly at ND, with the three skippers last season – that shows how open I am to that.’’