Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon today announced Bennett King as the XXXX Queensland Bulls coach for the next two seasons.

King, 34, replaces newly-appointed Australian coach John Buchanan as the Bulls coach, a position he will occupy for the remainder of the 1999-2000 season and the 2000-2001 season.

King has been the Bulls assistant coach since 1994-95 and has occupied the dual role of assistant coach and Queensland Academy of Sport coach for the past three years.

"I've been fortunate to have been able to work very closely with John since he came on as Bulls coach and have travelled with the team for the past two years as assistant coach, so I'm confident we can continue in the right direction without too much disruption" he said.

Originally from Gympie, King played Queensland Under-19 and Australian Under-19 cricket and first grade for Northern Suburbs.

He turned his focus to Rugby League with a degree of success, playing for Valleys and earning selection in the Queensland Residents team in 1987 under Wayne Bennett that toured New Zealand. He played two seasons of first grade with the Gold Coast Giants in the NSWRL before suffering a knee injury that required a reconstruction.

Following his retirement from Rugby League after playing with Valleys 1991, he turned to cricket coaching, taking charge of Norths for three seasons and working as Development Officer with Queensland Cricket.

A Level Three accredited coach, King will begin his full-time duties as Bulls coach immediately with the team travelling to Hobart tomorrow to prepare for their Shield match against Tasmania.

XXXX Queensland Bulls v Tasmania, Nov 5-8: Stuart Law (c), Jimmy Maher, Matthew Hayden, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Geoff Foley, Wade Seccombe, Andy Bichel, Adam Dale, Joe Dawes, Matthew Anderson, Clinton Perren (twelfth man to be named)