Despite leaving his position as Kent’s Director of Cricket, Paul Farbrace still wants the county to enjoy every success.
The 44 year old left his position after two years in charge at Kent and has since agreed a deal that will see him take up the job of being Second Team coach at Yorkshire.
Even though Farbrace left Canterbury with a year still left to run on the contract he agreed in 2009, he still has an affinity for the side he played for between 1987 and 1989:
“Without a doubt it was disappointing to have left Kent as that was something I always wanted to do. I wanted to be successful there, but in the end it didn’t work out.”
As to whether Kent would be somewhere Farbrace would work again, the former wicketkeeper wasn’t ruling out a return to Canterbury in the future:
“That’s not for thinking about now. As I said, it was something I always wanted to do. We had some encouraging things going on at the club, but the bottom line the results weren’t good enough.”
“Whoever comes in has got some decent players there, there are a lot of good things about the club and I hope they do well.”
“The key to any club though has to be results and what happens on the field.”
Having left Kent in September, straight away Farbrace was linked with various positions in the game and he told KSN how he had various offers on the table, but once Yorkshire came calling there was only one club he wanted to work for:
“It’s not so much being back in work, just a case of me seeing what options I had available and the Yorkshire offer was the best one for many reasons. I’m excited and can’t wait to get started now.”
“As for being linked with a job at Surrey, that never got off the ground.”
The former wicketkeeper now plans to use the skills he has gained coaching over the years to help bring on youngsters at Headlingley and is excited by the prospect:
“My new role is more to do with coaching than a management role. It’s a big club and an exciting club that have got a lot of homegrown players that have not only gone on to play for Yorkshire, but play for England as well.”
“That’s something I want to be part of and I’m looking forward to working with Martyn Moxon.”
On Tuesday, Yorkshire announced that Australian Jason Gillespie would be taking over as First Team Coach and Farbrace told KSN how he was looking forward to working with the former fast bowler:
“I’ve never met him, but I’ve spoken to a lot of people that know him and I’ve heard good reports. I’m looking forward to meeting him and tapping into his experience from within the game and feeding off what he can bring to Yorkshire.”
The change of county will mean a change of address for Farbrace, but he admits it isn’t something that will phase him:
“We will be moving up to Leeds. We’re in the process of house hunting. It’s all part of being involved in cricket, but at least it’s not as far away as Colombo!”
Farbrace was part of the Sri Lankan coaching set-up and was linked with the main role for their national side just a few months ago and he told KSN how he was still ambitious and wanted bigger roles in the long term:
“That’s not off the radar and you never know in sport. I’d like to think I will be at Yorkshire for some time, but I’d like to have another go at working with the first eleven again.”