Farbrace excited by move to 'special club' Warwickshire

Paul Farbrace is in no doubt he has joined a county heading into a bright future after becoming Warwickshire's new sport director.

The 51-year-old left his role as England assistant coach after the recent West Indies tour to take over at Edgbaston following Ashley Giles' departure to become managing director of England men's cricket.

In his new role, Farbrace will also work closely with Warwickshire's women's set-up as well as elite development and men's first-team coach Jim Troughton.

Warwickshire are set for a return to the top flight of the County Championship this season following their Division Two title success.

Farbrace cannot wait to embrace the fresh challenge, despite having left an England camp getting set to tackle a home World Cup and Ashes series.

"This is a special club. It's a winning environment and who wouldn't want to be part of that?" Farbrace said.

"It would've taken something very special to pull me away from England at this time and this is it.

"Every time I've come here (Edgbaston) with England in the past few years, it just feels like such a great place to be.

"Normally in sport, you come into a job when things have perhaps not been going so well. This is an opportunity to come into a set-up where things have."

Farbrace had been England's assistant coach since 2014, following World T20 success with Sri Lanka.

During that spell working with Peter Moores and then Trevor Bayliss, the men's side enjoyed victory in the Ashes as well as being ranked world number one in the 50-over format.

Farbrace added in an interview with BBC WM: "I've gained quite a lot of experience in my years of coaching, I'm keen to use that and test myself as well.

"You could stay in a bit of a comfort zone as an assistant coach. With this, you're doing something different.

"You're working with teams, you're working with individuals to test your experience and see if you have what it takes to do that.

"For me, that was something that really appealed in this very wide and varied role."

Farbrace is set to travel to Abu Dhabi to join the rest of the Warwickshire squad for a training camp ahead of the new domestic campaign.

Warwickshire openers Will Rhodes and Dominic Sibley are scheduled to be part of the MCC side against Surrey in the Champion County match which takes place at the ICC Global Cricket Academy Ground in Dubai on March 24.

The new Division One season begins with a home match against Kent, starting on April 11.