New South Wales and Sydney Sixers to part ways with decorated coach Greg Shipperd

New South Wales and Sydney Sixers will part ways with decorated, title-winning coach Greg Shipperd with a year to run on his current contract in both roles.

Shipperd, who turns 70 in November, was re-signed on a two-year deal to coach both NSW and Sydney Sixers until the end of the 2026-27 season, but after guiding Sixers to the BBL final last week and positioning the state team within reach of making the Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup finals with four and three rounds remaining respectively, the veteran coach has been told this will be his final season in both roles.

He will leave the Sixers job immediately, having coached the team to five finals and two titles. He will remain coach of the NSW Shield and One-Day Cup teams until the end of the season.

Cricket NSW chief executive Lee Germon said it was a difficult decision to make but believed it was the right time for a fresh voice, and took ownership of the decision.

"I believe that Greg and his coaching team have done a really good job of stabilising our side after a couple of difficult seasons and bringing in some good systems and processes, and now, in my view, was a time for us to go up another level and consistently win matches and look to win titles," Germon said. "This season, we've actually lost more matches than we've won at the moment. But it's also the manner in which we've lost some of those games that has really confirmed to me, and it really hasn't happened as quickly as I would have liked in terms of seeing the signs that we can shift to that next level. So I needed to make the call now, in my view, to give us an opportunity to also go find the next coach, and I believe the time is right now to make that change."

Germon, a former New Zealand captain, said the style of NSW's play and the manner of their three Shield losses to Victoria (twice) and Tasmania had been the catalyst for the decision.

"The concerning thing for me, there was not seeing a style of play that I believe was going to lead to consistent winning," Germon said. "It was more the manner in which we lost those games, that was more concerning than one loss or one result. What I saw was style of play and a pattern of play that did not fill me with confidence that we were going to be in a position to consistently win matches moving forward.

"The other aspect of it was we are seeing some young players come through, with the Sixers and the Blues, and I think now is the time for those young players to be exposed to a different coaching style, to really try and bring out the best in them."

Germon said the looming transition to private ownership in the BBL, either in a minority or majority share, had played no part in the decision to end Shipperd's tenure with Sixers. Western Australia have already split the WA and Perth Scorchers coaching roles for the first time with private investment in mind. Adam Voges will remain coach of Scorchers for next season while leaving the WA role at the end of this summer.

Shipperd has had similar success to Voges in the BBL but has not won a title in five years and has lost three finals in that time, which hasn't been enough for him to keep his job.

"I think the Sixers have done well to make the [BBL] finals," Germon said. "We haven't won a title in five years. So the concerning question for me there was the ability that was shown to get to the finals, not cross the line and win them."

Shipperd did not hide his disappointment in the decision in the same statement, saying that he was keen to continue in both roles for the remainder of his contract.

"My contract was to conclude at the end of the 2026-27 season and so I'm incredibly disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to honour my commitment and continue to develop the wonderful young players I have been working with," he said. "I am extremely proud of my coaching team for building the foundation of a new generation and I wish them all success beyond my time here."

Shipperd is the godfather of cricket coaching in Australia, having begun his coaching career with Tasmania in the 1990s after a lengthy domestic career with WA and Tasmania as an opening batter. He made his Sheffield Shield debut in 1977-78 and has remained a key figure in Australian domestic for over five decades.

He has coached both David Boon and Sam Konstas in domestic cricket. He coached Tasmania for 11 seasons, including to three Shield finals. He coached Victoria for a decade, leading them to four Shield titles, one One-Day Cup, and four state Big Bash titles. He also coached Melbourne Stars in the first four years of the BBL to four finals series before taking the job at Sixers and leading them through a glittering period of sustained success.

Shipperd has also had a huge influence on a number of coaches within the Australian system, having coached current Australia coach Andrew McDonald at Victoria. He coached Australia's batting coach Michael Di Venuto at Tasmania. He also coached Victoria's current coach Chris Rogers as well as a vast number of assistant coaches and high-performance administrators currently working in the Australian domestic system.

He took the NSW job in 2022 in an interim capacity after Phil Jacques was sacked. He was given the role full-time at the end of the 2022-23 season. He had overseen incremental improvement in Shield and One-Day Cup cricket. After NSW finished last in 2022-23, they climbed to third in the Shield in 2023-24 and fourth in 2024-25. The also made the final of Australia's One-Day Cup competition in 2023-24 but were beaten by WA at home. They finished third in the competition last season.

Shipperd was confident that his NSW side was improving year-on-year and was extremely passionate about developing the next crop of Australian players from the young NSW group. Konstas made his Test debut in December 2024 while NSW skipper Jack Edwards made his international debut on Thursday in the first T20I against Pakistan in Lahore.

"Progress is being made," Shipperd told ESPNcricinfo in June. "The next step for us is to win those crunch games more often than we did, in particular at the back end of last year.

"We need to put in place that next six or seven Australian players [like those] that have been sitting in the Australian team for many years now. That's the challenge. We're chasing it aggressively."