New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has today announced that Kim Littlejohn has been appointed as the National Selector Manager (NSM).
Littlejohn joins NZC on the back of a very successful seven years with Bowls Australia where he held a dual role of High Performance Manager and National Team Manager. He previously worked as Operations Manager for Baseball Victoria and as a Sport Development Officer with a local government organisation after starting his working life as an investment banker.
The NSM is a new full-time role and will be responsible for the selection of men’s and women’s international cricket squads from Under 19’s through to BLACKCAPS and White Ferns.
Littlejohn will be responsible for establishing a comprehensive profiling system as players progress along the pathway of representing New Zealand and in doing so use a network of cricket coaches and key stakeholders.
Speaking on behalf of the appointment panel NZC Director of Cricket John Buchanan said: “The appointment is a fantastic step forward for NZC as we look to create a system that gives us a strongly integrated networking and profiling system for talent identification, performance measurements and team selection in New Zealand.
“It is quite different to the traditional selection role, requiring a specific systems skill set. A key part of the role will be accessing and utilising the wealth of knowledge that already exists within cricket, including first-class coaches, high performance staff and New Zealand’s cricket experts – in that respect it is more inclusive than previous models.
“The selection panel agreed that Kim was the right fit for the role.
“Kim brings extensive experience from Bowls Australia where his operational skills and understanding of high performance sport were highly regarded. Although he is new to cricket in New Zealand I am confident his will mean he has no issue getting up to speed with new selection system, performance focused management, people management, and cultural change.
“Mark Greatbatch has provided invaluable input and expertise during his time in the acting NSM role. However, the selection panel decided that Kim was the candidate who best matched the requirements of the role with the appointment also endorsed by John Wright.”
Littlejohn officially starts on 19 September 2011 and his initial task will be to work with John Wright to select the final BLACKCAPS squad for the tour of Zimbabwe.
