Lancashire appoint Paul Farbrace as director of cricket

Just a few weeks before he was scheduled to take on the same position at his troubled former county, Paul Farbrace has left Sussex to become the new Director of Cricket at Lancashire.

Farbrace, whose huge experience in the game has included stints as England women's head coach and men's assistant coach, announced in July that he would be stepping down from his role as Sussex head coach at the end of their County Championship campaign.

However, he had initially agreed to take up a part-time role as director of cricket at Hove, in order to aid the club's transition at the end of his four-year tenure. Matt Walker, a former Kent batter who served as Warwickshire's batting coach during their 2026 title-winning campaign, is scheduled to take over as head coach.

Despite being placed in special measures by the ECB back in February, after reporting a £1.33 million operating loss for the 2024-25 financial year, Sussex achieved an impressive third-place finish in Division One of this year's County Championship.

They accomplished this despite the distraction of a number of notable departures from the team, such as the highly regarded seamer Henry Crocombe, who joined Surrey in July, and the wicketkeeper John Simpson, who joined Nottinghamshire last week. The club confirmed a further quartet of departures at the beginning of the month, including their import from Australia, Daniel Hughes, who had been a fixture in their performances across formats since his arrival in 2024.

After securing their promotion as Division Two champions in 2024, Farbrace himself had warned that it was "now or never" for Sussex to win more trophies.

The circumstances surrounding Farbrace's arrival at Old Trafford have made the financial realities at Hove even more apparent. In 2026, Lancashire placed seventh in Division Two of the Championship, or 17th out of 18 counties, behind only Gloucestershire.

Following an underwhelming 2025 that had already resulted in a coach and captain change, it was the worst season in the club's proud history. Director of cricket performance Mark Chilton lost his job as a result. Following pressure from prominent former players at the club, including David Lloyd and Paul Allott, Daniel Gidney, the chief executive, had announced in April that he would be leaving at the end of the season.

However, the county's shortcomings in the Championship have been mitigated by Manchester Super Giants' success in the Men's Hundred, reiterating the widening gap between English cricket's have-and-have-not clubs.

Farbrace stated, "It is with mixed emotions that I am leaving Sussex Cricket after four years." "Working with so many great people across the club has been a great experience for me at Hove.

"I am absolutely delighted to be joining Lancashire Cricket, and I can't wait to get started," he added. "It is a real honor to be asked to join the club during this exciting time, and I look forward to playing my part in assisting Lancashire in challenging for trophies and developing teams of which the Members and supporters can be very proud."

The new chief executive of Lancashire, Richard Kenyon, praised Farbrace's extensive experience and stated that he would be a "key part" of a larger review of Lancashire cricket in light of their recent poor performances.

Kenyon stated, "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." Paul's credentials and capability for the position were evident.

"Paul brings a wealth of experience in both the men's and women's game, as well as a great success record. 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.

"I'm excited to work with Paul, and we're really excited to have him on board." We needed to get the Director of Cricket hired quickly because it is the first piece of the puzzle as we continue our larger review of Lancashire's cricket, which Paul will play a crucial role in when he joins us later this year.