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Paul Grayson returns to Yorkshire as batting coach 

Diamonds and former Essex head coach to mentor Yorkshire batsmen 

Essex coach Paul Grayson has been granted a reprieve until the end of the season  •  PA Photos

Essex coach Paul Grayson has been granted a reprieve until the end of the season  •  PA Photos

Paul Grayson has been appointed as Yorkshire's batting coach.
The Yorkshire Diamonds head coach will relinquish his duties with the women's side to take over as fulltime batting mentor to the club's first team, second XI and academy from March 1.
Grayson, who was head coach at Essex from 2007-15, said his latest role was not a step towards returning to a lead coaching position.
"This is the perfect role for me," Grayson said. "I have no intention of going back into a club to become head coach, I made that pretty clear in my interview.
"I feel that I specialise in batting along with a bit of spin bowling as well. I just want to support the other coaches, pass on my experience and my knowledge, and also work with the players."
Grayson, 47, played at Headingley between 1990 and 1995. He retired from first-class cricket at the end of 2005, having scored 8,655 runs at 31.70, and taken 136 wickets at 44.39.
He was one of seven candidates interviewed for the position and will head to South Africa for warm-weather pre-season training a week after starting his new role, supporting head coach Andrew Gale and bowling coach Richard Pyrah.
"I hope to play that father figure around the dressing room," Grayson said. "I will give the players options and then it is down to them to perform.
"I think that white-ball cricket has been a success at Yorkshire over the last couple of years, but it is pretty evident that some of the lads need to improve their numbers in red ball and enjoy playing four-day cricket again."
Gale said he had felt for a while that the club needed a batting coach.
"The bowling group has been quite close and Richard Pyrah treats them as his own, I felt the batters needed that also," Gale said.