Bracewell to take charge of Ireland

Ireland have announced that John Bracewell has been appointed as their new head coach, on a two-year contract. Bracewell, a former New Zealand international who has also coached his country, was most recently in charge of Gloucestershire.

Bracewell replaces Phil Simmons, who left to take up a similar role with West Indies after eight years at the helm with Ireland. During that time, Ireland became the dominate side among the Associate nations and regularly punched above their weight at the 50-over World Cup. Their next goal is to try and win Test status in 2018, via the ICC's Intercontinental Cup.

"I am delighted to accept the position as Cricket Ireland's head coach," Bracewell said. "There is nothing I enjoy more than fighting for a cause, and in cricket terms there is none better than obtaining Test status. Already Ireland have achieved tremendous international results given their financial resources and gained respect at international tournaments, to the point where they are no longer regarded as a banana skin match but true qualifying contenders.

"I recently presented at the Irish coaching conference and listened to the passion not only for the game but for hard work coming from current and former players, and the parallels with my New Zealand cricket journey really resonated with me."

An offspinner and capable batsman, Bracewell played 41 Test and 53 ODIs for New Zealand between 1980 and 1990. As a coach, he led Gloucestershire to great limited-overs success at the turn of the century, before taking charge of New Zealand in 2003. During a five-year spell, he took New Zealand to the 2007 World Cup semi-final, before returning to Gloucestershire in 2009, where he worked with Ireland's current captain, William Porterfield.

Cricket Ireland's performance director, Richard Holdsworth, said: "We are delighted to welcome John to the Irish cricket family, to take the team through new challenges towards our vision of Test cricket.

"John has substantial international experience. During his tenure the Black Caps qualified for three semi-finals in ICC global events, while he also won six trophies with Gloucestershire. The interview panel were impressed by John's passion, commitment and knowledge, but more importantly his international experience both as a player and coach.

"We feel John's knowledge gained over a 25-year period in the first-class game will help further develop our current players, but also ensure succession planning for our future squad who aim to be playing Test cricket by 2019. We believe John's strong work ethic and great understanding of players as people as well as cricketers will help not just the Ireland team, but our pathway players aspiring to wear the Ireland shirt in all formats on the world stage in the future.

"He has agreed a deal with us subject to work permit approval, until the end of 2017, which we both feel is the right time to review our position, following the completion of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, which is now the pathway event to the new Test Challenge."

Bracewell will link up with Ireland ahead of the ODI against England next Friday, although his role will only be observational, with Ireland's assistant coach and performance analyst Peter Johnston overseeing the team. Bracewell's first match as head coach is set to be the home Intercontinental Cup game against UAE starting on June 2.