Jon Lewis retires to take coaching role

The Sussex seamer Jon Lewis has announced his retirement to take up the position of bowling coach at the county.

Lewis, 39, who played one Test for England in 2006, joined Sussex last year after a brief spell in a player-coach capacity at Surrey following a successful career with Gloucestershire, but he played only eight Championship matches in 2014 due to injury and has now decided to move permanently into an off-field role

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people that have been a part of my life as a professional cricketer. Especially those at Gloucestershire and England," he said. "I feel very privileged that I was able to have fulfilled a career as a professional player for over twenty years and able to gain my coaching qualifications and experience alongside.

"I am now very excited to make the seamless transition from a player into a coach, at a very welcoming and successful club

"I am looking forward to becoming part of and complimenting the already successful existing coaching team. It gives me great pleasure to be given the opportunity of developing and maximising the success of the existing bowling attack and the next crop of exciting young bowlers at Sussex. I will be grabbing the challenge wholeheartedly."

Lewis took 849 first-class wickets in 249 matches with a career-best of 8 for 95 and also bagged 302 List A scalps in 232 games. Alongside his lone Test against Sri Lanka, he also played 13 ODIs and two T20s.

Mark Robinson, the Sussex cricket manager, said, "Firstly we would like to congratulate Jon on what has been a fantastic playing career. He has been consistently one of the stand out bowlers in the County Championship and played a leading role in winning many a one-day trophy with Gloucestershire. He represented his country with distinction and was a fierce competitor that you had to respect.

"When Jon was with us last year it became very apparent he was born to coach and instantly gained the respect of all the players within the squad. Jon's role is to oversee and develop the current bowlers that we have and also nurture the younger bowlers in our youth system so in time we will constantly have a depth of seamers at the disposal of the first team."