Christopher Doig came into New Zealand Cricket wearing the label of "opera singer" but will leave it as "the grand conductor."

Even his international administration colleagues referred to him as "the opera singer."

From performing in the world of arts to leading cricket from what had been something of a sinfonia into more like a full blown symphony orchestra, Doig has re-shaped the face of New Zealand cricket administration and won respect on the world stage.

To some who wondered at the pace of change, and the corporate direction, Doig was no-balled by many critics.

His replacement of national batting icon Glenn Turner by an Australian coach in Steve Rixon was a huge gamble.

Turner had become embroiled in a clash of ideals with the players.

The players won when Doig took their side.

That was another gamble.

Doig set up the administrative infrastructure he wanted to the frustration of others.

As with the other moves, Doig's gamble paid off.

Cricket has survived the coaching row, although the continuation of technical flaws, especially among batsmen, remains an area to be addressed.

But Doig could point to the development of Chris Cairns as a world-class all-rounder, whose batting excellence was one of the most significant movements in the New Zealand game, as evidence that players can advance if they put the work in.

The players too have lost the bovver boy attitude that threatened to derail the game while the administrative core of the game has produced some outstanding results, most notably in the growth divisions in school children's cricket.

Doig told CricInfo today: "We've made mistakes.

"But we've done a lot of things. Some well, some less well.

"However, if we had gone into things with fear and trepidation we wouldn't have achieved anything."

The next step for NZC was another big one, in seeing developments in the secondary schools area and in club cricket.

"Those are set in train now and with our financial projections we will invest in that area."

He was disappointed New Zealand had not won the men's World Cup but he believes the men will be well positioned to win the 2003 World Cup, even with the problems of the moment.

"There were only two international trophies up for grabs in 2000 and we won both of them [the ICC KnockOut and CricInfo Women's World Cup]. That suggests we are doing some things right," he said.

But Doig makes no bones of the fact that he dislikes the negative attitude which surfaces so easily in the New Zealand character.

"I can't stand it.

"I love New Zealand. I'm very much an optimist in that I see the good in people and in situations.

"In adversity there is always something positive to come out of it. We have injury problems at the moment but look at the opportunities they have provided for new players.

"They have come in unreasonably early in their cricket development. But when all the old players recover and come back, that residue of players will be a real benefit to us," he said.

New Zealand was a society that was looking for instant gratification.

"We as a nation are depressingly critical of things. We are far too lacking in buoyancy, in optimism as a nation."

These things were not a factor in his resignation.

"I've grown to accept the nature of the beast.

"We would be a more constructive society, if we criticised constructively rather than destructively," he said.

Doig, as both an opera performer and an arts administrator, had found the same attitudes in the arts sector.

"It might sound strange to some, but I love the arrogance and probably the self confidence of the Australian personality. New Zealand would be better with some of that attitude," he said.

Doig has no regrets in leaving his job of the last five years.

"Every time we lose a match I regret it, but otherwise no," he said.

The creation of the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University, the victories over England at Lord's and the Oval in 1999, the semi-final placing in the 1999 World Cup and the winning of the CricInfo Women's World Cup at Christmas were highlights while the building of NZC's financial assets, the development of the administrative infrastructure and the implementation of many areas of the Hood Report which arose out of the miserable summer of 1994/95 will be part of Doig's legacy in the game.

In his new role in sports marketing there may be other connections between him and NZC in a marketing sense.

"It is a wonderful opportunity in an area where I have some skills both in sport and the arts.

"It is very exciting and these chances come along rarely in life," he said.

Doig said he was first approached by Sporting Frontiers six months ago, through his former NZC marketing manager Neil Maxwell. He was originally approached to work as a consultant in the international environment.

But he didn't want to leave New Zealand and after too-ing and fro-ing to Australia it was decided to set up a stand alone company in New Zealand of which he would have a percentage stake.

Doig will report to the Australian company's general manager, former International Marketing Group boss Michael Porra.

"I talked about the change with NZC chairman Sir John Anderson two weeks ago, but he asked me to hold off any announcement until after last week's executive meeting of the International Cricket Council in Melbourne so that we could get the 10-year plan through.

"I informed the board today and the staff at lunchtime," he said.

Doig said he would be based in Christchurch where the company would have an office although there would possibly be an office in Auckland and Wellington.

© CricInfo