Cricket: Assessment of Ross' role unfair says Hood

Neil Hood said critics scrutinising the director of cricket's role were making an "unfair assessment".

CD Cricket made coach Heinrich Malan convenor of selectors because it was the logical thing to do, according to CEO Neil Hood.

"To get a coach to pick the first team [CD Stags] in his first year would have been unfair," Hood said yesterday after director of cricket Craig Ross held the position of convenor in Malan's debut domestic season.

He said it made sense to have Malan take over the selection panel once he got familiar with the players and his portfolio.

Hood said critics scrutinising the director of cricket's role were making an "unfair assessment" of Ross who was also pivotal in scouting players in the fringe of selection for the Stags.

He didn't accept that Malan, or other coaches, were on a collision course with Ross considering coaches were accountable to the director of cricket.

Hood refrained from commenting on selection issues but emphasised "encroached" was not a term he would use to define Ross' duties involving coaching director Scott Briasco.

"Craig oversees Scott's role ... just like he oversees Nigel's [Brooke] and Lance [Hamilton] as manager and Heinrich as coach."

He said CD had no qualms about accepting it had to improve in certain areas.

"If we were winning every time I'd still have said we have things to improve," he said of CD who are trying to return to the cricketing force of three seasons ago and pull themselves out of the financial doldrums. He said the Super Smash T20 round in Napier was disappointing but he had always considered it as something on the lower end of the scale of plans to reverse its fortunes.

Hood remained confident in turning CD around.