Former England international Chris Read appointed Thunder head coach

The 45-year-old replaces Paul Shaw, who stepped down at the end of 2023 after holding the role for four seasons

Former England international Chris Read has been appointed as Thunder's new head coach.

He replaces Paul Shaw, who stepped down at the end of the 2023 campaign after holding the role for four seasons.

Stephen Parry and Craig White will continue to work as assistant coaches under Read.

The 45-year-old former wicketkeeper made over 800 appearances during his senior career, including  representing England in all three formats, before retiring in 2017.

He has since served as an assistant coach with Trent Rockets in the women's Hundred and WBBL side Hobart Hurricanes as well as working with the England men's Under-19s setup and as a wicketkeeping consultant for the ECB.

^{As a player, Read made over 800 appearances, including representing England in all three formats [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

^{Paul Shaw stepped down as head coach at the end of the 2023 season [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

Under Shaw, Thunder reached Finals Day in the 2023 Charlotte Edwards Cup and Read believes he is the man to take the squad one step further, namely "bringing silverware to Emirates Old Trafford".  

"I am extremely proud to have taken up this position and I am looking forward to getting to work with such an ambitious club and a talented squad of players," said Read, who will take up his position in January.

"The development of the Thunder regional programme in recent years has been most impressive and it is clear to see the ambitions of everybody involved is to back that up by bringing silverware to Emirates Old Trafford.

"I believe that my experiences as both a player, and more recently as a coach around the world, will help Thunder push on and achieves our ambitions in the coming seasons."

David Thorley, regional director of women's cricket, added: "Throughout an extensive interview process, Chris excelled against the candidate brief of what we were looking for in a head coach - which is somebody to build on the strong foundations laid during Paul Shaw's tenure and to help continue to evolve the high-performance culture here at Thunder.

"It is clear that Chris is an excellent strategist who knows what it takes to win through a positive brand of cricket, and I am looking forward to the future of Thunder under his leadership."