Michael Yardy replaces Richard Dawson as England Young Lions head coach

Dawson, who left Gloucestershire to take on the role last year, has joined Matthew Mott's backroom staff with England's white-ball team

Michael Yardy has been appointed as England's new men's under-19 head coach, replacing Richard Dawson.

The former allrounder, who was part of the England team that won the World T20 in 2010, has spent the last year as the academy director at Sussex, for whom he scored more than 14,000 runs during a 16-year playing career.

Dawson, who left Gloucestershire to take on the role last year, has joined Matthew Mott's backroom staff with England's white-ball team.

"I'm really excited to be taking on the role of Young Lions head coach," said Yardy, who has also worked as a batting coach for both New South Wales and Kent. "It's a privilege to work with young players as they seek to make the next step in their career and I look forward to the challenge of doing that at international level.

"The Young Lions programme has helped to develop a number of very talented players across the last few years and it's an exciting prospect to be a part of that work and help identify and improve future England Men's cricketers."

At Sussex, Yardy has overseen the progression of several youngsters into the county's first team, while spinner Bertie Foreman has come through the county's academy and played in the Youth Test series against Sri Lanka in August. His fellow 18-year-old, Charlie Tear, made a half century in his second professional appearance in the last game of the 2022 County Championship season. James Coles, another Sussex youngster, was part of the World Cup squad last winter that ended as runners-up to India.

David Court, the ECB's player identification and talent pathway lead, added: "The Young Lions programme aims to inspire and develop players through unique and challenging experiences, and Mike's time in domestic cricket, international cricket and – more recently – his time spent leading the development of talented young cricketers at Sussex will be a huge asset for us."

^{Before working as Sussex's academy director, Yardy was Kent's batting coach (James Chance/Getty Images)}

Yardy's move will come as a significant blow for Sussex, who are already on the lookout for a new head coach after a miserable season in the County Championship and T20 Blast. The summer ended with the departure of Ian Salisbury after a period on gardening leave for a non-cricketing dispute with Jack Carson, the young off-spinner who is part of the England Lions squad for the training camp in the UAE this winter. In some quarters of the county's fanbase, Yardy was considered a potential successor.

"I'd really be upset if a player said I didn't show much empathy," Yardy told The Cricketer last year about his coaching style.

"Of course, there would be moments when I'd be frustrated with players if they could have done more in terms of their preparation or something around it, but there aren’t too many people when they cross that white line who are not going out there and trying their absolute hardest.

"Yes, players will make stupid decisions or stupid mistakes. But there is no one who gets more frustrated than the player himself."

He added: "You go in there as a young coach with a lot of ideas and a lot of things you think are right or wrong. But what I've found is that it's better to take the time to get to know people and understand how they work and what their motivations are and what makes them tick and what they've gone through."

Related Topics

• Head coach Ian Salisbury leaves Sussex

Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.