Paul Farbrace agrees to stay at Sussex as part-time director of cricket

Paul Farbrace has agreed to stay on at Sussex in a part-time director of cricket role after the embattled club appointed Ed Warner as their new chair.

Farbrace announced in April that he would step down from his dual role as head coach and director of cricket at the end of the season, following a winter in which Sussex faced up to a worrying financial position that saw them enter a special measures arrangement with the ECB.

But he has now agreed a new contract to stay at the club as a part-time director of cricket from November, working alongside a new head coach. The club recently advertised for Farbrace’s replacement, and will interview candidates next week.

Farbrace’s decision came after talks with Warner, the former chair of UK Athletics who was ratified as Sussex’s new chair at a board meeting earlier this week. Warner fills the position vacated by Jon Filby’s resignation in February, and said that he saw the role as a “privilege” and a “tremendous opportunity” despite Sussex’s off-field challenges.

Sussex sit fifth in Division One of the County Championship, and would be top but for the 12-point deduction imposed on them due to their financial situation. But they have struggled in the T20 Blast, suffering their seventh defeat in nine matches when they were thrashed by 100 runs by Essex on Friday night.

They are likely to lose several out-of-contract players to bigger clubs this winter, with Henry Crocombe’s move to Surrey finalised this week and Fynn Hudson-Prentice also set to depart. But they were buoyed by Tom Clark’s decision to sign a one-year extension this week, while the prospect of Ollie Robinson winning an England central contract would provide some leeway.

Farbrace spoke at length to Warner on Friday and told BBC Radio Sussex: “I came back and signed the contract that I have been offered to stay as director of cricket on a part-time basis, which I’m really pleased to do because I didn’t want to leave the players in the lurch.

“I want to have some sort of stability. I want to try and keep this group together as much as we possibly can. I think in the new chair, the club have made a fantastic decision. He’s got a fantastic background in sport and in business, and that’s exactly what we need; we need someone with real clarity, a real clear thinker and brilliant speaker who is actually going to inspire and get people behind him.

“Everything that I have heard and seen from him is exactly what we need. We need a bit of help, and I think we’ve got the right person and if we can all get behind him and support his vision for cricket, which is absolutely brilliant and what I wanted to hear.

“I didn’t want someone to come and say the best way to clear the debt is to get rid of as many senior players as we can. He’s saying no, we want to keep the team together, be competitive, and we want to be challenging for trophies. And that’s exactly what we should be doing.

“When you’ve got a chairman who’s got that vision, it is very easy to get behind. I’m very excited to have him on board and working closely with him.”

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