Jason Gillepsie to join England Lions coaching staff

Sussex Cricket head coach Jason Gillespie will be sharing his knowledge and experience with the England Lions during a 12-day spell with the red-ball squad starting 8 February.

The Adelaidean took over 400 international wickets with his right-arm quicks and will offer the Lions’ pacemen advice on how to take advantage of Australian conditions, working alongside his Somerset counterpart Jason Kerr.

A couple of the Lions seamers already have experience of playing Down Under with Craig Overton playing the final Test of the 2017/18 Ashes and Richard Gleeson playing in the recent Big Bash for Melbourne Renegades, while Ollie Robinson will be linking up with his county coach on his first overseas Lions tour.

Gillespie said: “I’m excited by the opportunity to work with Richard Dawson, his support staff and all the players.

“It’s a great chance to listen and learn from different people and I hope that I can add some value to the team from my own cricket experiences.

“Richard is a great friend of mine as someone I played and coached with at Yorkshire and played against for Australia, so I know what an excellent person and leader he is. It’s going to be great fun and a really rewarding experience.”

ECB Performance Director Mo Bobat said: “This will be a great opportunity for our young pace bowlers to learn from one of the best in the business. 

"Jason was not only a quality bowler but is also an excellent coach with vast experience who will no doubt leave a lasting impression on the squad.

“Learning how to impact games with the ball in Australian conditions is a great challenge and having Jason on hand to help our players with this is of huge value. It will no doubt stand them in good stead for future Ashes success. 

“I’m encouraging the whole squad and management team to make the most of Jason’s time with us, to tap into his experience and local knowledge to improve themselves as players and coaches over the coming weeks.

“It will be great to see him working closely with Jason Kerr who is leading our pace bowling support during the tour and sharing expertise in this way can only be good for our game as a whole.”

The Lions play three four-day games on their tour of Australia, starting with a match against Cricket Australia XI in Hobart, starting on 15 Febuary. They then take on Australia A in a pink-ball day/night match at the MCG before finishing the tour with a four-dayer against a New South Wales XI.