Malcolm is a level-two accredited coach who has been coaching junior representative teams in the Shoalhaven for the past three years. He found out about his appointment last week, and described it as “exciting”.

“They announced my appointment on Friday,” he said. “I went through an interview process last week with Steve Davies.”

Malcolm was an assistant coach to Phil Wells last year, and will replace Phil who is now the Zone Academy Coach for the Greater Illawarra.

“Wells is a record-breaker in Sydney grade-cricket, so I learned an enormous amount last year under him,” he said. “When the opportunity arose to take on the head role, he encouraged me to apply, so I thought I’d give it a crack.”

Malcolm’s appointment coincides with the formation of the new Greater Illawarra Cricket Zone, a fact that will present greater opportunities for kids on the South Coast.

“It’s certainly exciting on a couple of levels,” Malcolm said. “Clearly the support that Cricket NSW and Cricket Australia are putting into coaching has increased significantly over the past couple of years. The appointment of regional academy coaches is evidence of that.

“With the new zone structure, that’s proving to be beneficial to both coaches and players, because it’s giving us more opportunity to experience cricket at high levels.”

Malcolm is now tasked with developing some of the best junior cricketers on the South Coast.

“With the role specifically, it’s developing our junior players in the South Coast and Shoalhaven Associations,” Malcolm said.

“The key aim is to prepare them for these higher carnivals like the Kookaburra Cup and Bradman Cup.

“These are key carnivals in the Cricket NSW Pathway.”

“I’ll bee preparing the top-24 cricketers in those two associations (South Coast and Shoalhaven) for those carnivals, and making sure they’re prepared to compete at that high level.”