Radford departs in Glamorgan shake-up

Toby Radford has left his position as head coach of Glamorgan after two seasons in the role. He has departed with a year remaining on his contract as Glamorgan seek to restructure their coaching operation.

There have already been calls for Robert Croft, a former England offspinner and a long-time Glamorgan servant, to be given a more central role - with the former England fast bowler Simon Jones among those naming him as a strong favourite.

Both Croft and his former team-mate Steve Watkin, who is also on Glamorgan's coaching staff, applied for the head coach role when Radford was chosen to replace the Australian Matthew Mott.

Hugh Morris has been serving as both chief executive and director of cricket, an onerous task, but there are no indications he will step down from one of the roles.

Radford will now return to specialist batting coaching, a role he performed both for the ECB at Loughborough and with the West Indies when they were crowned ICC World Twenty20 Champions in Sri Lanka in 2012.

Glamorgan finished fourth in Division Two of the Championship last season, their second-highest position in the past decade, but a small squad faded badly in the second half of the season. They were also one of the few counties not to benefit from a general rise in T20 attendances, although they were not helped by a block of early-season matches in unfavourable weather.

Radford admitted that he was disappointed with his departure, talking of "big strides" in developing a Welsh flavour in the side that Glamorgan again crave.

"I am obviously pleased that the team showed major improvement in the past two seasons and it has been highly competitive across all formats and in all competitions," he said.

"It is disappointing for me not to be able to see the work through to its conclusion but I am confident that the wealth of home-grown young talents like David Lloyd, Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, all of whom are now first team regulars, gives the club huge optimism for both the immediate and long-term future. I would like to thank all of those who supported me in taking this club forward. Together we made big strides."

Morris said: "Toby's hard work and commitment to the role has been evident for all to see and under his leadership we have made an important step forward in championship cricket. The coaching Toby has done with our young batsmen has been particularly important and I believe the players and the club will reap the benefits of this work in years to come. He leaves the club with our best wishes for the next stage of his coaching career."