Farbrace to quit England for county role
Paul Farbrace, the England assistant coach, will leave his position after the tour of the Caribbean to become sport director for Warwickshire.
Farbrace’s decision means that, after five years in his post, he will leave before a home summer that includes the World Cup and Ashes.
“It’s a huge wrench,” Farbrace said. “I found it hard telling one or two people. Even now, just thinking about it, it’s tough because I’ve had the opportunity to do something I never dreamed I would come close to doing. I wasn’t good enough to play internationally.
“The reason I left Sri Lanka after a short time and took some stick for it was that I thought the opportunity to work with England would never come again. Therefore, the last couple of months, I’ve thought, ‘I really hope I get the job’, but at the same time walking away from this set-up is difficult. It’s not something I’ve done lightly.”
There are a number of possible successors to Farbrace in the England camp, including Paul Collingwood, Graham Thorpe and Chris Silverwood. Collingwood is viewed as the most likely to take on the role on an interim basis until the end of the summer, as the others all have specific specialist briefs within the set-up.
Trevor Bayliss has already announced that he will depart as England coach after the Ashes series. The decision that Farbrace should leave after the tour of the West Indies was ultimately made by Ashley Giles, managing director of England men’s cricket.
Warwickshire were prepared to let Farbrace remain in his post until after the World Cup and Ashes but Giles decided that, once Farbrace had accepted the role – the position that Giles left at the end of last year – it would be better if the assistant coach left after the West Indies tour, which was not Farbrace’s preference.
“The timing definitely isn’t right but it doesn’t always work out that way,” Turn to page 11