Sussex coaches switch roles

SUSSEX County Cricket Club have announced a restructuring of coaching roles in their professional ranks, with club Coaches Mark Davis and Carl Hopkinson effectively switching roles.

Hopkinson will become the second team coach for the 2012 season. He will still spend time around the first team, particularly around one-day cricket, but will now be responsible for the running of the second XI.

Davis will support the first team for the majority of the summer whilst at times swapping with Hopkinson to enable all the coaches to have a good overview of how the professional teams are running.

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South African-born all-rounder Davis, who was awarded a benefit year by the club in 2011, arrived at Hove in 2001 before becoming club coach in 2005. He has since presided over the second XI’s fortunes, who most recently won the ECB T20 tournament in June last year by seeing off Durham in the final.

Hopkinson, who came up through the ranks at Hove, moved full circle from being named Sussex’s Young Player of the Year in 2000 before retiring from the game at the end of the 2009 season to join the club’s coaching staff.

He will continue to pay particular attention to fielding techniques and skills of all the professional players.

Sussex manager Mark Robinson said: “We felt that it was important to have a change for the new season as both coaches will benefit from the new responsibilities.

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“One thing we are keen to continue is that all of the professional coaches spend enough time in each other’s areas so we all have a good understanding of how all aspects of the coaching pathway are developing. This includes our cricket performance manager Keith Greenfield, who will continue to spend time with both myself and Carl in the summer.”

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