New Zealand's Level III cricket coaches will be receiving their latest round of training over the next month.

With about 70 Level III coaches spread over the six provincial associations, New Zealand Cricket's director of coaching development John Howell and the director of player development Ashley Ross will be visiting each association to conduct the two-day courses.

Coaches at this level are required to attend a new course every four years to maintain their certification.

Among some of the Level III coaches are: Sir Richard Hadlee, Tony Blain, Allen McLaughlin, Matt Horne, Llorne Howell, Ann McKenna, Denis Aberhart, Gary MacDonald, Lee Germon, Michael Sharpe, Dave Hadfield, Mark Greatbatch, Scott Briasco, Alistar Jordan, Paul Unwin, Brendon Bracewell, Chris Kuggeleijn, Cliff Dickeson, Karl Treiber, Mike Wright, Grant Bradburn, Michael Austen, Julie Harris, Sarah Kelly, Vaughn Johnson, Kristy Van Dyk.

Also taking part will be Lyn Kidman of the Christchurch College of Education who will be discussing the subject of player empowerment, the subject of a book she has recently written.

This relates to players being more responsible for their own decision-making.

New Zealand national coach David Trist will work with Howell on what is a team culture while Howell and Ross will also discuss the role of decision-making.

They have just completed a course in Auckland which dealt with learning styles and Howell said the role of decision-making was becoming a big thing in cricket.

It was an area with a lot of debate and said there was great interest in the type of decision-making that saw less orthodox batsmen like Nathan Astle and Andrew Jones play a ball a certain way and survive while more orthodox players played it another way and got out.

"People in pressure situations often react differently to an event than they would in normal life," Howell said.

There would also be tactical and strategic discussions on things such as whether a spinner like Sri Lankan Mutiah Muralitharan should be played in front of the pad in the way Martin Crowe preferred or behind the pad as John Reid preferred.

As part of the programme, regional under-19 high performance squads will be working with Ross at each venue on skills practices with the coaches observing.

Another part of the course will involve Bruce Blair working on Digi-Cricket, the coaching programme designed by former Australian women's cricket coach John Harmer, who is now the England women's coach. Blair will also deal with what makes the tough, elite athlete.

Ross will also discuss whether athletes should have their styles changed or should they be left alone?

The first session will be held in Hamilton on June 27-28, the second in Wellington on July 1-2, the third at Palmerston North on July 3-4, the fourth on July 5-6 in Auckland, the fifth in Dunedin on July 9-10 and the final session in Christchurch on July 11-12.

From August 1-3, development workshops will be held at Lincoln University with the first-class coaches and other invited coaches. The programme will be slightly different to that for Level IIII coaches.

© CricInfo