Quick Haag have appointed 24-year-old New Zealander Jonathan Boult as their player-coach for 2010 replacing Gareth Hopkins, whose national duties would have prevented him from playing the full season.

A left-handed batsman and right-arm off-spinner, Boult has played three first-class matches for Northern Districts, and is a member of New Zealand’s development squad. He took four for 78 against Auckland on debut in the 2008-09 season, and has a highest score of 76, made against Central Districts at the end of last year.

Born in Rotorua, he has been a regular in the Bay of Plenty district side and has also appeared regularly in the Northern Districts A team. He was named as twelfth man for a Test against India at Hamilton in March 2009.

Boult also spent three European summers in England between 2005 and 2007, playing for Bewdley and then Droitwich in the Worcestershire County League. At the age of 19 he made an unbeaten 165 against Old Elizabethans in his first season with the former club.