Grant Flower joins Sussex as batting coach

The 51-year-old has previously served as batting coach for Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as enjoying a coaching stint with Essex

Grant Flower has joined Sussex as the club's batting coach, replacing the departing Jason Swift.

The 51-year-old arrives at the club with considerable coaching experience from the international circuit, having served as batting coach for Zimbabwe (2010-14), Pakistan (2014-2019) and, most recently, Sri Lanka.

On the domestic scene, he has also enjoyed stints with Essex, Midwest Rhinos and Rangpur Raiders.

As a player, Flower scored over 10,000 runs in 288 international matches for Zimbabwe as well as spending six seasons with Essex between 2005 and 2010. During that period, he won three one-day trophies with the club.

Commenting on joining Sussex, Flower said: "It gives me great pleasure to be added to the Sussex coaching staff and I can’t wait to start. I have been told about the exciting young batters coming through the ranks and am excited to be given the opportunity of hopefully improving them along their journey.

^{Grant Flower (left) during his playing days with Essex [Matthew Lewis/Getty Images]}

"I always enjoyed playing against the Sharks and admired their professional approach and ultra-competitiveness. Hopefully I can add to that with some of my international coaching experiences and help contribute to make the Sharks batting unit both reliable and exciting."

The club’s Championship and one-day coach, Ian Salisbury, backed Flower to have a big influence on Sussex’s young squad, commenting: "Grant is an absolutely fantastic addition to our staff.

"I’ve known him since my first trip to Zimbabwe in 1989 and can vouch for his personal qualities, while his coaching and playing record speak for themselves.
 
"With a young squad in the early stage of their careers, the quality of the coaching set-up is absolutely vital. To add someone with Grant’s track record alongside people like James Kirtley, Sarah Taylor, Ash Wright and Mike Yardy puts us in a really strong position. I feel humbled to be working alongside this group.
 
"There have been some challenges over the past year or so, but we’ve got to look forward now. We’ve got a brilliant coaching team in place, the medical and S&C teams are doing great work with the lads’ fitness [and] we’ve got the marquee going up early in the New Year.

"So we’re in a great position to now focus on the squad’s cricketing skills as we build up to the start of the season."

Performance director, Keith Greenfield, added: "To have such a high quality batting coach with the experience that Grant has come and join us at such a crucial time to help develop our young squad is absolutely fantastic."