Peter Fulton to replace Craig McMillan as New Zealand's batting coach after World Cup

Earlier this year in February, New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan– who was associated with the team as a batting coach for five years- announced that he will resign from his duties after the conclusion of the upcoming World Cup. According to the latest news, former opening batsman Peter Fulton will replace McMillan as batting coach of the Blackcaps after the showpiece event ends. 

New Zealand’s current head coach Gary Stead was Canterbury captain when the 40-year-old Peter Fulton, then 22, made his first-class debut in the last match of the 2000-01 summer against Auckland. Again in the year 2012, the two Canterbury players came together to form a coach-captain pair when Stead took over as Canterbury coach and Peter Fulton led the side. Fulton, who played 16 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket with Canterbury, has been backed by the seniors and of course, the Blackcaps head coach.

According to ESPNCricinfo, Stead was quoted saying, “We’re delighted to have Pete come on board after the World Cup and are confident he will be a good fit for our environment. We had a thorough process and utilised our senior players to help assess all the candidates.

“Pete obviously has a good understanding of batting, but he also demonstrated a clear vision for helping our elite batsmen. He’s shown he has the coaching skills through his work with the New Zealand Under 19s and our winter training squads, while we know from his playing days that he will certainly add to our team culture.”

Fulton is all set for his new role

Meanwhile, Peter Fulton’s role will officially begin on August 1 as the Blackcaps will play their final league match of the World cup on July 3, and the Final will be held on July 14. “Like many Kiwis, I’ve watched and admired the way the team’s gone about their business in recent years and so it’s pretty special to be invited back into the set-up. 

“We’ve obviously got some really talented batsmen in the country and I’m looking forward to working with them to see how they can continue improving their games,” said Peter Fulton, a former U19 coach.

Fulton played in New Zealand whites for the last time in a Test match against the Windies in June 2014. In 84 international matches for the Kiwis – 23 Tests, 49 ODIs and 12 T20Is –  he amassed 2428 runs and hit three hundreds. He retired from all forms of cricket in April 2017. 

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