Former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi has been appointed Black Caps’ new batting coach for the coming summer, announced New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Wednesday (November 4).
Ronchi replaced Peter Fulton, who resigned from the post after his one-year stint as New Zealand’s batting coach to return to Canterbury as head coach in July 2020.
The Australian-born 39-year-old Ronchi has worked with the Black Caps regularly over the past two years has had brief spells as batting coach in limited-overs cricket, while he also serving as the fielding coach at the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
His latest stint as full-time batting coach with New Zealand team will start with the upcoming home series against West Indies later this month and Ronchi is excited to work with the national team again.’
NZC GM High-Performance Cricket Bryan Stronach said Ronchi’s broad skill-set and past experiences with the national team has awarded him the job on a full-time basis.
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Stronach stated in an official release on Wednesday, “Luke’s got a very good cricket brain and is especially strong tactically. He has a positive mindset and is good at building relationships but he’s also not afraid to challenge people which is a really important aspect of coaching.”
The NZC official further added, “The feedback we got from the players and team support staff at last year’s World Cup, in particular, was very positive and I know he’s looking forward to continuing his work with the team this summer. There’s no doubt that, alongside the batsmen, our wicket-keepers will also benefit from having Luke around.”
Meanwhile, Ronchi said of his appointment: “I’m absolutely pumped. I’ve really enjoyed being back with the team in recent seasons and it’s exciting to be given the opportunity full-time this summer.”
The batting coach further added, “Getting the chance to continue working with our batsmen is a great honor and I’m looking forward to seeing how I can help improve their games and best prepare them to perform at the highest level. It’ll be great to sit down with Gary and the other coaches to begin planning for what will be a busy summer with four touring teams who will all bring different challenges.”
While Ross Taylor hailed Ronchi’s appointment by saying; “It’s been great to have Luke back with the group in recent years and I’m personally really looking forward to working with him as batting coach.”
Taylor signed off by saying, “He’s obviously got great experience from playing and coaching around the world and I know he will bring plenty of his own ideas to the table. He’s got a calm demeanor and already possesses many strong relationships within the group.”
Noteworthy, Ronchi played 157 games for Western Australia before moving to New Zealand to play for Wellington in 2012 in order to make a career at the highest level.
He played a total of 372 domestic matches for 11 different teams in England, India, the West Indies, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and finished his career with 16 First-Class centuries and 796 dismissals in all formats.
He retired from international cricket in 2017 with 2075 runs in 122 games across the formats.
(With NZC Inputs)
