Stephen Boock set to step over players' Rubicon

Former international left-arm spinner Stephen Boock never imagined when his playing career finished in the summer of 1989/90 that he would later enter the halls of cricket administration.

But that is what is scheduled to happen at Friday's annual meeting of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in Wellington.

Boock is one of two nominations for two positions on the board that have been recommended to the AGM for election by the board selection panel. They will replace Barry Dineen, a long-serving member of the board and Brigit Hearn.

The other nominee is business consultant and company director Anne Urlwin of Christchurch.

Boock said he had been motivated to stand when he heard Dineen was retiring.

"Not in a million years did I imagine entering administration later in life. But you do change as you get older.

"You wake up in the morning and you feel the same sort of person in the same shell, but you develop different things. You have skills that you develop and you like to put them to use.

"You might retire from playing but your development carries on. Retirement from playing opens other doors that can lead you to different areas," he said.

Boock said running his own business, he has run New World grocery stores in Dunedin and now in Christchurch, had led to an interest in administration and developing skills and he has found it an area that he enjoys.

"New Zealand Cricket is not a political organisation. It has a good strong board that doesn't seek profile, and that suits me.

"I rate the CEO as a person with a lot of integrity and will look forward to working with him," Boock said.

Boock and chief executive Martin Snedden were team-mates in the New Zealand cricket team during the 1980s, a side regarded as the best New Zealand has produced.

"I'm not going in with an agenda," Boock said.

He sees some challenges ahead, including the player endorsements issue which reared itself in the run-up to the ICC Champions Trophy and which has still not been resolved.

"I enjoy all the cricket aspects of the board and I am happy to be involved. I should be able to bring something from my playing and business experience," he said.