The former New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori, has joined Middlesex on a three-year contract to serve as the club's head coach for the English T20 competition.

Photo: AFP

37 year old Vettori is currently head coach of Brisbane Heat in Australia's Big Bash, and occupies the same position with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

He will be in charge of Middlesex T20 playing strategy and will work alongside Richard Scott, the club head coach, and Richard Johnson and David Houghton, the club's two assistant coaches, to prepare the side for the Blast campaign.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to be involved with Middlesex in their pursuit of a T20 title," said Vettori. "Like all players I loved every opportunity to visit Lord's and that won't be any different as a coach but the main reason for my desire to be involved was the quality of the Middlesex playing squad."

"There is talent and experience in all facets of their game and I look forward to complementing their skills and all the fantastic work the current coaching staff has done."

"Daniel will strengthen what is already an outstanding coaching unit," managing director of cricket Angus Fraser said.

Vettori represented New Zealand on 442 occasions between 1997 and 2015, playing 113 Tests, 295 one-day internationals and 34 Twenty20s.

In total the Auckland-born all-rounder took 705 wickets for the Black Caps, as well as scoring 6,989 runs.

Since retiring, he coached the Heat to a sixth-placed finish in the Big Bash last season, while Royal Challengers were runners-up in this year's edition of the IPL.

Middlesex have only qualified from the group stage of England's domestic T20 competition on three occasions since the tournament was first played in 2003, going on to win the trophy in 2008.

The Lord's side, who won the County Championship title last season, were beaten in the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast in 2016.

"Cricket is becoming ever more specialised," Fraser added.

"The skills required by players in the different forms of the game are wide-ranging - why should coaching be any different? As a club we are always looking to improve."

Middlesex and BBC