Sussex bowling coach James Kirtley is to leave his job at the end of October after seven years in the role.<\/p>\n
Incoming head coach Matt Walker will lead the search for a replacement as part of what the club called a “restructure of the coaching staff”.<\/p>\n
Kirtley, 51, spent 16 years as a player at Hove, winning three County Championship<\/a> and three white-ball titles with the club, before taking up a full-time role as bowling coach in November 2019.<\/p>\n “I leave Sussex with a heavy heart, but also with my head held high,” Kirtley told the club’s website, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I take real comfort in knowing the team is in a stronger place and that, alongside many others, I played a part in helping to make that happen.<\/p>\n “To see Sussex at the top of the Championship, to be part of [T20] Finals Day and to help develop one of the best bowling units in the country has been a source of enormous pride.”<\/p>\n The bowlers Kirtley has worked with includes England players Jofra Archer and Ollie Robinson, and Lions bowler Henry Crocombe, who took hat-tricks in back-to-back Championship games<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n Kirtley’s 18-year-old son, Ollie, made three One-Day Cup appearances for the club this summer.<\/p>\n It is the latest departure from the Sussex backroom staff, after head coach Paul Farbrace’s pending move to Lancashire as director of cricket<\/a> and batting coach Grant Flower’s imminent switch to Surrey.<\/p>\n