Former New Zealand opener, captain and coach Glenn Turner will be the guiding hand for Otago this summer following his appointment today as Otago coach.

Turner takes over from Denis Aberhart who served for one year as Otago coach before being appointed the New Zealand coach.

Turner has a long involvement in coaching following his own illustrious playing career with Worcestershire in English county cricket and for two stints with the New Zealand team, the most notable of which saw New Zealand achieve its first series victory over Australia, in Australia in 1985/86.

Otago has been able to make the two-year appointment with Turner due to a New Zealand Cricket initiative to part-fund major associations for the employment of full-time coaches.

His role will include assisting with the development and talent identification of players throughout the Otago region and also the Otago cricket coach development programme.

Turner is very familiar with the Otago scene having been the convener of selectors for the past three seasons.

Otago Cricket chief executive Graeme Elliott said: "We are delighted to have secured Glenn as our coach for the next two years. His extensive playing and coaching record will be fully utilised by Otago Cricket.

"We have already developed a very good working relationship and I am confident that with his knowledge of the game, Glenn will give our players a significant advantage next season."

Turner commented on his appointment when saying: "We are in a process of building a solid base of players in the region and we now have an excellent high performance centre. It will be good to be back, being fully involved in cricket."

The appointment takes place immediately.

© CricInfo