ANDY Moles says he was left with little choice but to resign from his position as New Zealand head coach after senior players had questioned his abilities to run the team.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan confirmed on Saturday that they had accepted the 48-year-old Englishman's decision to step down just one year into his three-year contract after the two parties reached an "amicable agreement at me
diation."
"There was a group of players who had lost confidence in my ability as a coach," said a disappointed Moles.
"This left me really in an untenable position after that had been so widely reported in the media."
Moles said while he held no grudge against the players, he was disappointed that the areas of concern had not been highlighted previously.
He added: "One of the great challenges as a coach is to try and get the chemistry right between the players and the coach. I will take it squarely on the chin that on this occasion I haven't got the chemistry right."
Vaughan was at pains to stress on Saturday that Moles, who replaced John Bracewell last November and whose contract was not due to expire until after the 2011 World Cup, was not ousted by player power and that others during the review had also voiced their concerns about the former Warwickshire batsman.
"We sought the feedback of leading players – as I think is appropriate – when they came back from their tour. We also sought input from other areas, including support staff and management of that Black Caps team. This was not a case of player power.
• ENGLISH cricket chiefs have stepped in to help Scotland avoid a potentially damaging fixture clash, writes William Dick.
The Scots are scheduled to play in the ECB's new-look Pro4 tournament next May but hope to be in the Caribbean for the T20 World Cup at the same time.
Now officials south of the Border have agreed to leave Scotland off the fixture lists for the first four dates of the Pro40.
Cricket Scotland operations director Euan McIntyre explained: "The T20 World Cup qualifying tournament was originally meant to take place this month but had to be put back until February.
"Obviously the ECB need to have their fixtures announced long before that so it leaves us with a bit of a problem.
"We will still have to play catch-up in the Pro40 tournament but that is something we will be happy to do.
