Paul Farbrace (born 7 July 1967) is the Head Coach of Sussex and a former professional cricketer.
He is also a former assistant coach to the England cricket team.
Farbrace, nicknamed "Farbie", was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman who represented Kent County Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club, playing in 40 first-class cricket matches and 28 List A cricket matches.
He enjoyed considerable success as head coach of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, winning the ICC World Twenty20 2014 and Asia Cup 2014.
Playing career
Farbrace played for Kent between 1987 and 1989 and for Middlesex from 1990 to 1995. His peak season in county cricket was 1991, when he played 20 first-class matches, made 54 dismissals, but he only averaged 14.81 with the bat. With an overall career batting average of 18.23 he only made another four appearances in first-class cricket, all of which were matches against universities, rather than County Championship matches. He was replaced as wicket-keeper by longstanding Middlesex player Keith Brown, who had played as a specialist batsman while Farbrace was in the side.
Coaching career
Early career
Farbrace's early forays into a coaching career saw him spend two years coaching U15 football at Hampton School. Despite some mediocre results, Hampton's style of football was widely admired throughout the London Schools football scene. Following Hampton, he led England's Under 19 side, and the national women's team in 2000. Following a spell running the Kent Academy, he was appointed as the assistant coach to Trevor Bayliss for Sri Lanka in July 2007. He sustained a minor injury when the Sri Lankan team was attacked by terrorists in Lahore in March 2009.
Kent
He was named first-team coach of Kent for the 2010 season on 31 July 2009. Kent finished the season second bottom of the County Championship and were relegated to the second tier after earning promotion the previous season. Kent won three of their sixteen matches and finished with 151 points. In the Clydesdale Bank 40, Kent finished runners up in their group to Warwickshire, narrowly missing out on reaching the quarter finals. Kent failed to progress beyond the group stage of the domestic T20 competition, finishing seventh in their group.
Kent endured a difficult second season under Farbrace. In the first season back in Division two, they could only manage five wins, finishing the competition second bottom. They finished fourth in the Group stage in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition. In the Twenty20 competition they qualified from the group, finishing third and earning a place in the quarter finals. However, they lost the quarter-final against Leicestershire in a high scoring game. At the end of the season Farbrace left his role and was replaced by Jimmy Adams.
Upon leaving Canterbury, Farbrace was appointed to the role of Second XI Coach for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, prior to the start of the 2012 domestic cricket season.
Sri Lanka
2013/14 Pakistan
On 20 December 2013, he was named as the coach of Sri Lanka national cricket team. Sri Lanka won Farbrace's first game in charge in an ODI against Pakistan. However, they lost the next game by 113 runs. They lost the next game of the series but went on to win the last by two. Sri Lanka lost the series 3–2, although Farbrace was not in charge for Sri Lanka's first defeat. The first Test between the two sides was a high scoring match which ended in a draw. Sri Lanka won the second match of the series comprehensively, securing a 9 wicket victory. However, they lost the final match of the series by five wickets meaning that the three match series in the UAE ended 1–1.
2014 Bangladesh
Sri Lanka secured a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh in the first Test between the two sides, winning by an innings and 248 runs. The second Test between the two sides ended in a draw, meaning Sri Lanka won the series 1–0, their first series victory under Farbrace. Sri Lanka won the two match T20 series 2–0 and then went on to win the three match ODI series 3–0. This meant that in the seven matches played between the two teams, Sri Lanka won six, continuing Farbrace's impressive start to the job.
2014 Asia Cup
In the first match of the 2014 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 12 runs. They narrowly won their next match against India by two wickets. After beating Afghanistan by 129 runs, Sri Lanka continued their winning run by beating Bangladesh by three wickets. After winning all their games, Sri Lanka met Pakistan in the tournament final, where they won by five wickets to secure their fifth Asia Cup title overall and their first since 2008.