Warwickshire confirm departure of Bowling Coach Welch

Warwickshire County Cricket Club has confirmed that Bowling Coach Graeme Welch is to leave Edgbaston to join Hampshire at the end of the month.

Welch re-joined the current LV= Insurance County Champions in 2018, having previously held the role between 2010 and 2014. He also enjoyed seven seasons as a player for the Bears, between 1994 and 2000, and supported men’s champions Southern Brave as Bowling Coach in the inaugural tournament of The Hundred.

“Graeme leaves with the best wishes of everyone,” said Warwickshire Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace.

“He’s done an excellent job with the seamers and spinners over the last four years and he played a significant role in this year’s County Championship success, as well our previous Championship in 2012. We wish him every success at Hampshire.

“We will begin our recruitment process in due course but, in the interim, our bowlers will receive further support from First Team Coach Mark Robinson, as a vastly experienced former fast bowler for Sussex, Northants and Yorkshire. Mark will be supported by our pathway coaches Tharindu Perera and Richard Jones who both have strong First Class experience and are developing into excellent coaches through their work with our young cricketers.”

Paul Farbrace

Once confirmed, all detail of the recruitment process for Welch’s replacement will be announced in the New Year by Warwickshire CCC on edgbaston.com.

As part of Warwickshire CCC’s commitment to representing the communities that it serves and employing a diverse and inclusive workforce at all levels of the organisation, the Club will again adopt principles of the Rooney Rule to encourage applications from suitably qualified candidates from ethnically diverse communities.

“Warwickshire is a very special club to me and I’ve absolutely loved being back at Edgbaston over the last four years,” said Graeme Welch. “I was brought back by Ashley Giles to help rebuild the bowling attack in 2018, and to be part of a Championship-winning Bears set-up in September, for the fourth time, was a very proud day.

“I’m very grateful to Farby, the coaching team and the players. I’ve really enjoyed seeing a lot of the lads grow and improve, not just as cricketers but also people. I wish them every success and I’m certainly going to miss them.

“However, I’m ready for a new challenge. I’ve been able to see quite a bit of Southampton and the surrounding area through my time with Southern Brave and it’s a great opportunity to relocate and start a new chapter in my coaching career.”