LONDON, April 23, 2014 (AFP) – The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) continued the restructuring of the England coaching set-up on Wednesday by announcing the appointment of Paul Farbrace as assistant coach.
The 46-year-old will leave his role as coach of Sri Lanka to work alongside Peter Moores, who returned for a second stint as England head coach last Saturday.
Farbrace only joined Sri Lanka in December and achieved instant success by winning both the Asia Trophy and the ICC World Twenty20.
His departure was secured after negotiations between ECB chief executive David Collier and managing director Paul Downton and the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLC).
“We are grateful to SLC for their understanding and co-operation in releasing Paul from his contract in order to achieve his desire to return to England and to allow him to work with Peter Moores,” Collier said.
Farbrace, who previously worked at English county sides Kent and Yorkshire, said he was grateful to have been asked to join the England coaching team.
“It’s fantastic to be given the opportunity to work with your own country’s national team and this was an offer that I could not turn down, much as I have enjoyed working with the Sri Lankan players and sharing in their recent success,” he said.
“I am particularly relishing the chance to work more closely with Peter as we undertook the Level Four Coaching programme together and have known each other since we were both young wicketkeepers on the county circuit together.
“It will also be great to renew acquaintances with (England captain) Alastair Cook and other senior players whom I worked with earlier in my coaching career with England’s age-group teams.”
Moores said: “I am looking forward to getting down to work with Paul in the next few days. We have a lot of work to do in a short time as we prepare for the fast-approaching international season.
“There is no doubt Paul will bring a lot of recent international experience to the England set-up.”
