James Kirtley appointed full-time pace bowling coach

James Kirtley has been appointed Sussex Cricket’s pace bowling coach. The former Sussex and England seamer has been working with the club’s bowlers on a consultancy basis for the past two seasons but will now take on the role full time.

 Commenting on his appointment, James said: “I am really looking forward to working full time with the bowlers at Sussex.

 “I am proud to have helped the bowlers with their achievements and progress over the last two years albeit in a more behind the scenes part-time role. I was lucky Jon Lewis had left the club with the bowlers in such a good place.

 “More recently it was great to see the quality of our bowlers being recognised with a large part of our pace attack being drafted in The Hundred and Ollie Robinson making it into the England Lions set-up.

 “Whilst improving the performances of our bowlers already in the professional squad is an important part of my role, I am particularly keen to ensure we keep up the good work we’ve been doing in recent years in making sure the next generation of Sussex bowlers are well-prepared when their time comes to step up to the first-team. I hope we will see a number of these bowlers performing at this level soon.”

 Sussex men’s head coach, Jason Gillespie welcomed the latest addition to his staff: “I’ve really enjoyed working with James over the past two years, so to have him join our coaching team full time is brilliant.

 “His technical knowledge of fast bowling is superb, he is full of ideas and he has a great rapport with the players. He’s already been a great help to many of our guys during his time with us and it’s fantastic for Sussex that he can continue that work.

 “Personally, I’m really looking forward to learning as much as I can from James. We’re all going to benefit enormously from having him with us full time.”

 A true Sussex great, James took nearly 1,000 wickets in all three formats for the club in a career that encompassed three County Championship and three limited-overs titles. The 44-year-old also played 16 times for England.

 James’ coaching career has seen him perform roles with Namibia, England Women, England Physical Disability and Bede’s School.