Paul Farbrace named as Sussex head coach after departure from Warwickshire

Paul Farbrace has been named as the new head coach of Sussex, having recently stepped down from his three-year role as sporting director at Warwickshire.

Farbrace, who was an integral influence as England's assistant coach under Trevor Bayliss from 2015 to 2019, was also Sri Lanka's head coach when they won the World T20 in 2014.

"I'm delighted to be joining Sussex and I'm really looking forward to helping everyone at the club to achieve their ambitions," Farbrace said.

"It is a fantastic club that has produced many fantastic players for both Sussex and England. I am really looking forward to the opportunity of working with the players and coaches to drive the performance of the team forward.

"We should be very focused on developing our own players, as well as developing players to play for England at all levels, but also winning trophies for the members and the club."

His appointment comes as something of a surprise, however, with Farbrace recently expressing an interest in taking time away from county cricket to pursue new opportunities on the T20 circuit, including with the Hundred.

He will be replacing Sussex's outgoing head coach, Ian Salisbury, who left his position earlier this year after an internal dispute, and will take over a team in transition, having lost a number of its senior players in recent years, among them the England players Chris Jordan and Phil Salt. One senior player still on Sussex's books, however, is his step-son, the England Test bowler, Ollie Robinson.

Speaking on the appointment, Rob Andrew, Sussex's CEO, said: "We are all delighted Paul has agreed to join the club. His all-round experience is exactly what we have been looking for when we made the decision to return to one Head Coach across all formats and I am confident he will enable our team to fulfil its full potential.

"He shares the club's ambitions to produce our own players, develop players for England and win trophies for Sussex. We have a very exciting few years ahead as we see the young talented players develop further in Sussex colours."