Vettori signs on as Brisbane Heat coach

Daniel Vettori has been appointed as coach of the Brisbane Heat for the next three years. His tenure will begin upon his return from the IPL, which runs till May 24 and where he coaches Royal Challengers Bangalore.

With only two wins from eight games, Heat had finished at the bottom of the points table in the BBL and led to coach Stuart Law and captain James Hopes stepping down. They had won the title in the second season but haven't been able to build on that success.

"It is a big job but one that I am excited about tackling,'' Vettori said about the challenge that awaits him. "It has been a few big months for everyone with the World Cup but I am pleased to begin getting myself ready for what comes next.

Vettori has been part of Queensland T20 cricket for five years, has played for the Heat in all four seasons of the Big Bash League and was their player of the year in 2013-14. He becomes their first standalone coach since the inception of the BBL in 2011. Usually the coach of the Queensland side in the Sheffield Shield and Matador one-day cup assumes charge.

"I found my initial experience as the coach of Bangalore in the IPL to be very rewarding last year and so I am grateful to them for allowing me this additional opportunity to develop my coaching skills and background," he said.

Brett Jones, Queensland's high performance manager, said Vettori's signing would also help plan their combination going into the coming BBL season.

"Dan coming on board for the next three BBL seasons will certainly assist us with finalising the bulk of our recruiting and planning for the coming year,'' he said. "We're delighted to have him back with us, considering it is a relationship that goes back more than five years ago to the original Big Bash when he played for Queensland."

Heat have so far re-signed allrounder Ben Cutting and batsmen Joe Burns, Chris Lynn and Nathan Reardon.