Two new directors appointed to NZC Board

New Zealand Cricket Board (NZC) confirmed the appointment of Justin Vaughan and Steven Riddell as its two new directors, at NZC's Annual General Meeting in Christchurch today. They will replace Terry Jarvis and Peter Sharp, who did not seek re-appointment.

The outgoing directors were congratulated by Martin Snedden, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket. "Both these directors selflessly gave their time and expertise to assist with the governance of cricket in New Zealand and have assisted in steering NZC to develop and maintain cricket as the country's number one summer game," he said.

Vaughan is the chief executive of a medical technology company and has played six Test matches and 18 One-Day Internationals for New Zealand. He was the captain of the Auckland team for four seasons and was twice voted Auckland Player of the Year. He has served on the board of Auckland Cricket since 2001.

Riddell is a company director who has served on the board of Canterbury Cricket since 2001. He has served on the management committee of the Buller Cricket Association and is its life member.

The new directors will be faced with the task of lifting the board out of its current financial crunch.

New Zealand Cricket posted a loss of $6,105,152 in the 2004/05 financial year, NZC announced in its annual report.

"Revenue was down on budget as NZC felt the full impact of the abandonment of the Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand. Fortunately we should recover most of these lost revenues when Sri Lanka tour in January next year," NZC Chief Executive Martin Snedden said today.

"Revenue was also affected by the ICC's continued prudent retention of funds from the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.

"It is hoped the ICC's contractual dispute with the Global Cricket Corporation can be brought to an end during the current financial year, at which time NZC should receive a final distribution from the retained funds."

NZC operates a four year financial cycle to cope with the fluctuating nature of revenues received between world cups. In some years revenue is significantly higher due to NZC's participation in international cricket tournaments and in other years revenues are significantly reduced due to lower overseas broadcasting income from inbound tours. The 2004/05 year is the third year of the current cycle.