Farbrace leaves Sussex to join Lancashire

Lancashire have appointed Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace as their new director of cricket, weeks before he was due to assume the same role at Hove.

Sussex confirmed in July that Farbrace, 59, would switch roles from head coach to director of cricket from November, where he would work on a part-time basis.

But he now departs to take over from Mark Chilton, who left the post at Old Trafford last month after five years in the job. Farbrace will also oversee the women's team in his new post.

Lancashire finished the season seventh in Division Two of the County Championship, the lowest position in the club's history.

Meanwhile, Farbrace helped guide Sussex to third place in Division One, despite beginning the season with a 12-point penalty.

The financial problems at Hove which triggered that deduction led Farbace to announce in April that he would step down as head coach at the end of the 2026 season.

In July, he said he would be staying to move into a part-time director of cricket role and oversaw the appointment of Matt Walker as his successor as head coach.

However, the former England assistant coach - who led Sussex to promotion from Division Two in 2024 - has now opted to move to Lancashire.

"It is with mixed emotions that I am leaving Sussex after four years," Farbrace told the club's website, external.

"I will always be grateful to Sussex for giving me the honour of being head coach and allowing me to work with a fabulous group of players and staff."

Farbrace's arrival is the first significant appointment by Lancashire's new chief executive Richard Kenyon, who promised to lead a review of the cricket operation at Emirates Old Trafford.

It is now 11 years since Lancashire won one of cricket's main prizes - the T20 Blast in 2015 - and there has been a nagging feeling amongst the membership that focus had shifted away from the playing side to the commercial side, and also a growing relationship with the Indian backers of the Manchester Super Giants in The Hundred.

But bringing in a person of Farbrace's experience to work above head coach Steven Croft, who has just finished his first full season in the job, is a sign that things are going to be realigned.

Since 2023, Farbrace's first season at Sussex, the Red Rose have won only 11 of their 56 Championship matches, which includes relegation in 2024 and the last two seasons struggling in Division Two.

There was a dire run of nine losses in 10 matches this summer stretching from May to September, as only Gloucestershire kept them off the bottom of the table.

"Paul's credentials and capability for this role were obviously very clear, but he particularly impressed us with his understanding of where the club is and what we need to do to move forward," Kenyon told Lancashire's website, external.

"Paul brings significant experience across both the men's and women's game, as well as an excellent track record of success.

"We wanted an established, high-performing director of cricket, with a strong understanding of the leagues, players and wider landscape of the game - and Paul ticks all those boxes."

Adrian Harms, BBC Radio Sussex

The news that Paul Farbrace is leaving Sussex has come completely out of the blue, and will come both as a hammer blow and total shock to everyone at the club.

Farbrace stepped down from his coaching duties at the end of the season, having guided Sussex to a third place finish in the County Championship to take up a new part-time role as director of cricket.

During his four years at the club, Farbrace has steered the club from the bottom of Division Two to promotion, and re-established Sussex as a major force in Division One.

However, with the club still under tight financial controls imposed by the ECB, and with the likes of bowler Henry Crocombe and wicketkeeper John Simpson having already moved on, there are concerns that other players who are out of contract next season may be forced to look for pastures new.

Those concerns will be highlighted by Farbrace's departure. He is immensely popular among the players, staff, supporters, members, as well as the media, and his loss to the club cannot be exaggerated.