On Monday, England’s County Cricket Club Sussex announced that former player Sarah Taylor will join the club’s coaching staff for the next season. Ashley Wright will also join the Sussex coaching staff. “Sussex Cricket is delighted to announce the addition of Sarah Taylor and Ashley Wright to its coaching staff for the forthcoming season,” Sussex Cricket said in a statement. Supporting the full-time coaching team, the pair will work with the professional squad and the Sussex Cricket Pathway on a part-time basis.
According to Hindustan Times, Sarah has thus created history by becoming the first female cricketer to join the coaching staff of Sussex County. While there are instances of women coaches being involved in men’s arena, Taylor probably is one of the most high-profile coaching appointments in men’s cricket. The 31-year-old Taylor, who has represented England in 226 games across formats with a world record 232 dismissals to her credit, quit the game in 2019 due to mental health issues. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest keepers to have graced the women’s game.
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Ashley will assist Sussex’s lead batting coach, Jason Swift. The former Leicestershire player is a Level 4 coach, who specializes in human movement and biomechanics. He has previously worked with Surrey and Bangladesh Premier League side, Rajshahi Kings, and was the national head coach of Guernsey for four years.
According to NDTV, Sarah in a statement said: “I’m really pleased about working with the club’s wicketkeepers. From Ben Brown and Phil Salt in the professional squad and down through the pathway, we have a really talented group of keepers at Sussex who I am looking forward to working with immensely. I want to share my experience and expertise to help them get the most out of their game. I’m a big believer in keeping things simple and perfecting the basics so that players can enjoy and express themselves with the gloves.”
Whereas, Ashley said: “I am honoured to be part of the Sussex coaching team, working as the professional batting support, and equally thrilled to be working with a very talented group of young batters in the pathway.”
Commenting on the addition of Sarah and Ashley to the coaching team, Ian Salisbury, Sussex’s joint men’s head coach, said: “As with everything we do, the decision to add Sarah and Ash to our coaching staff is based on our strategic aim to produce homegrown or ‘Sussex-fied’ players who will ensure the club is competing in all formats and providing as many players for England as possible in the future.
“They both bring a huge amount of cricketing knowledge, skill and experience, as well as a fantastic work ethic, to the entirety of our player pathway. Equally as important, Sarah and Ash both fit our mantra of coaching the whole person, not just the cricketer very well.”
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