Bracewell leaves Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire have announced that John Bracewell, the director of cricket, will leave the club at the end of January as part of a "restructure of cricket operations" at the club.

Bracewell came back to Gloucestershire in 2009 having returned to New Zealand to be their head coach following a first spell at Bristol which started the club's golden run in one-day cricket in 1999 and 2000. However, his second period at the club coincided with a significant downturn in fortunes and an attempt to rebuild the team around young talent on a tight budget.

Their best finish in the Championship during Bracewell's second spell has been fourth in Division Two while they have not regularly featured in the latter stages of limited-overs competitions, although did reach the quarter-final of the Royal London Cup in 2014. They have also lost two of their key players, the Gidman brothers, with Alex joining Worcestershire and Will moving to Nottinghamshire to play Division One cricket.

"There are times in a coach's career when he has to take the training wheels off and let his charges make their own decisions on how they move forward. I feel this time is now," Bracewell said. "This group of players are ripe to produce and I would like to thank them and my coaching staff for their hard work and desire to learn and improve.

"I would also like to thank the members who have travelled this journey. Your loyalty to this young group growing up through what has been one of the toughest periods in our history will be rewarded I'm sure. I have loved the challenge that was laid in front of me 6 years ago and with the Club having secured its future with international cricket it is time for us all to move on."

Gloucestershire hope to announce a new head coach before Bracewell leaves on January 31.