Matt Walker will take over as Sussex’s head coach from November 1, with Paul Farbrace transitioning into the role of Director of Cricket on the same date. Walker enjoyed a distinguished playing career with Kent and Essex, scoring more than 18,000 runs across all formats before shifting into coaching.
Walker arrives at Hove after eight seasons as head coach at Kent, where he steered the county to promotion to Division One before leading them to Vitality Blast success in 2021 and the One-Day Cup in 2022. He has also coached within the England men’s set-up, is currently batting coach at Warwickshire and serves as an assistant coach with Oval Invincibles in The Hundred.
“I am incredibly honoured and excited to have been given the opportunity to become Head Coach of Sussex Cricket,” said Walker as quoted by Sussex Express.
“Sussex is a Club I have always admired and one with a proud history. The opportunity to work with this group of players and staff, alongside Paul, was one that really excited me. There is already a strong foundation in place and I’m looking forward to building on that as we strive to help Sussex compete for trophies. I can’t wait to get started,” he added.
Why did Sussex conduct a thorough search process for the head coach role?
Farbrace said the club conducted a thorough three-stage recruitment involving several excellent candidates from across the cricketing world, and Walker consistently impressed throughout before emerging as the clear choice, bringing excellent reputation within the game and the experience, energy and enthusiasm Sussex sought.
“I’m really looking forward to working alongside him as we tackle the challenges in front of us and build a team capable of competing for trophies,” Farbrace added.
Walker’s appointment marks another significant step in Sussex’s long-term plans as the club looks to build on the progress made in recent seasons. Farbrace will continue as head coach for the remainder of the 2026 season before taking up his revised director of cricket role from 1 November.
For the unversed, Sussex were slammed with a 12-point deduction for the 2026 season after “sustained operating losses” in the preceding financial year. Walker and new club chairman Ed Warner will have to work on a tight budget going forward. The club is under a player salary cap until 2028, and needs to give the ECB a three-year business model and deliver sustainable year-on-year operating profits for the same time span.
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