14 hours ago
Volts in market for coach after Noffke's exit
Ashley Noffke is one and done with the Otago Volts.
The Australian coach has resigned his position with the Otago Cricket Association with immediate effect.
It is not exactly a huge shock, as it was revealed recently Noffke had been given leave to join Pakistan as an assistant coach and the OCA was unsure whether he would return to fulfil the second year of his contract with the Volts.
Still, it means Otago are looking for a third coach in as many seasons, and that is not often a recipe for a stable environment.
Otago Cricket performance general manager Steve Martin said Noffke was permitted leave to take up the opportunity offered by Pakistan's new head coach, former Volts and Black Caps coach Mike Hesson.
Noffke served as bowling coach for Pakistan in their recently completed series against Bangladesh.
While there has been no official announcement, it seems likely the Australian has been given reasonable indication he is a contender for a permanent role with the national team.
That is always going to be a significant carrot, especially as it may mean Noffke will have to spend less time away from his family in Australia.
Noffke came to Otago from women's cricket, where he was coaching the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash and the London Spirit in The Hundred.
He played one ODI and two T20s for Australia, and took 386 wickets in 118 first-class games and 138 wickets in 121 list-A games.
In his single season in the South, Noffke guided the Volts to one win from eight Plunket Shield games, five wins and five losses in the Ford Trophy, and four wins in 10 Super Smash games.
Those might sound like moderate results but there were some signs the Volts were taking some positive steps, and new players were blooded.
Martin highlighted the "great progress" Noffke had made over the past year in the development of players and the team.
"Ash has been instrumental in the development of our players whose improvement throughout the 2024-2025 season was clearly noticeable," Martin said in a statement.
"His people management skills, his game knowledge and his drive for improvement created confidence in players and support staff.
"As much as we are sad to see Ash leave, our men's high-performance programme has grown considerably as a result of his efforts."
Otago Cricket has immediately advertised for the role and expects to have a replacement head coach in place within the next two months.
Cricket never really stops, so the association is "progressing with an interim winter coaching resource" ahead of the appointment of a permanent head coach.
The extra complicating factor is that Otago was some way down the track to finding an assistant coach, following the departure of Ben McCord, to work with Noffke.
Any firming up of an assistant's role will presumably now have to wait until a new kingpin is in place.
It is all change at Otago Cricket headquarters following news late last week that Welshman Gareth Davies was inbound to be the new Sparks coach.
