New role for Watkinson

Stalwart Mike Watkinson will take on the role as director of cricket at Lancashire

Lancashire cricket manager Mike Watkinson has moved upstairs to take a new role as director of cricket.

Watkinson had been in charge of first-team affairs since 2002 but will now take on a wider management role which will oversee all aspects of the county’s operations.

The Red Rose have already experienced significant upheaval since the end of the 2008 season with captain Stuart Law and senior all-rounder Dominic Cork leaving Old Trafford.

Watkinson, a former Lancashire and England all-rounder, said: “The scope of my role as cricket manager has increased considerably over the last 12-18 months due to the demands of modern-day cricket and the modern player.

“County cricketers are now full-time professionals and require more time, more resources and more structure than ever before to help with their own development and performance.

“At the other end of the scale you now have strict employment laws, appraisals, contracts, agents, and all the other important administration that needs to be dealt with on a daily basis.”

“Many changes have taken place at the club in the past few months and there is a real air of excitement as we prepare for the new season.

“This is why we are hoping to appoint a first-team coach as soon as possible, giving that person the time to work with and have an influence over the squad for the new season.”

Watkinson, now 47, played Minor Counties cricket for Cheshire before making his full Lancashire debut in 1982.

Watkinson holds the 1996 B&H Cup, flanked by Ian Austin, John Crawley, Mike Atherton and Neil Fairbrother

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He was captain of the successful county side of the 1990s, and was rewarded with an international call-up for the Old Trafford Test against West Indies in 1995.

He took five wickets in the match and followed up with a key 82 not out in the fifth Test at Trent Bridge. He played a single one-day international on the 1995-96 tour to South Africa but drifted out of the reckoning.

Watkinson was named Lancashire cricket manager in 2002, and had a stint as England bowling coach on the last tour to Bangladesh in 2003-04.

Lancashire’s revamp comes after a season in which they only avoided relegation from the first division of the LV County Championship in the final round of matches.

The county have pointed to their changed and growing business structure as the reason behind the creation of Watkinson’s new role.

Chairman Michael Cairns said: “In order to ensure the core business of the club, which is cricket, keeps up with the pace of change, the next logical step was to appoint a director with specific responsibility for all cricket aspects of the club.

“With his long-standing association with the club and his knowledge of all aspects of cricket in the county, Mike Watkinson was seen as the ideal person to fill this role.”