Jimmy Adams To Take Reins At Kent

Jimmy Adams To Take Reins At Kent

Adams (left) will leave his role as technical director of Jamaican cricket to take up his post with Kent.

©REUTERS/Action Images

Kent have chosen former West Indian captain Jimmy Adams from a list of 50 applicants to be their new head coach for next season. He replaces Paul Farbrace, who resigned his position in September, and has since taken up the role of Second XI coach with Yorkshire.

Jamaican-born Adams played 54 Tests and 127 One-Day Internationals for the West Indies during a nine-year career, as well as representing his home country Jamaica in 64 first-class and 44 list A matches. He also had spells with Nottinghamshire and South African provincial side Free State. His final professional match came in 2004 when he represented Wiltshire in the now defunct C&G Trophy.

Since his retirement, the 43 year-old has coached the West Indian Under-19 side and served as technical director of Jamaican cricket. He has also had spells as a commentator and is currently President of the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA).

Speaking of his appointment, Adams said, “I am delighted to be given this opportunity as head coach at Kent. They are a county with a proud history and tradition. I look forward to working towards further success in the year to come.”

Despite this proud history, Kent have struggled in recent years and endured a disastrous 2011 which saw them rooted in the bottom half of the second division of the County Championship, as well as suffering a disappointing quarter-final loss against Leicestershire in the Friends Life t20. This led to the resignation of Paul Farbrace at the end of the season, after chief executive Jamie Clifford had refused to give him his backing, as well as the departures of high-profile players such as Joe Denly and Martin van Jaarsveld. Speculation also surrounded the future of club captain Rob Key, although he has since been appointed for 2012.

All of which means that the county – who remain in a perilous financial position – will have to rely on their younger players for the next few years, something to which their chairman, Graham Johnson, alluded to in giving his reasons why the club chose Adams for the job.

He said, “We were delighted to have had such a strong field of candidates for the role. I believe we have run an extremely thorough process to select our new head coach, and are delighted that Jimmy will take up the position. He has a strong desire to see young players develop and this shone through in our discussions with him. He also has a tremendous amount of experience from his time in international cricket - particularly as captain. We welcome Jimmy to Kent and wish him the very best of luck.”

© Cricket World 2012