He won 200 caps for Australia and twice coached their women's team to gold medals at Olympic Games.

Charlesworth played first-class cricket for Western Australia in the 1970s and is also a qualified doctor.

He will take over from John Reid at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University in mid-October.

"NZC was extremely lucky to have had someone of the calibre of John Reid who led the creation and initial development of NZC's high performance centre and facilities.

"I am confident that we have secured the services of a replacement who will not only consolidate this work but who will drive NZC's high performance programmes forward so that we continue to compete effectively in international cricket and move closer to our strategic aim of dominating at the top level," said chief executive Martin Snedden.