Brown revels in unexpected promotion

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Dougie Brown admits he could never have imagined beginning the 2013 season as Warwickshire’s director of cricket.

Brown, a popular and effective all-rounder at Edgbaston in his playing days, has stepped up from his role as assistant and second team coach to succeed Ashley Giles, who was appointed as England’s new limited-overs chief in December.

Although he had been eager to advance his coaching career, the Scot told ecb.co.uk he did not expect this particular chance to come so soon.

“It’s amazing to be allowed to lead the cricket at this amazing club,” he said.

“Starting my career way back I didn’t think for one minute that I’d be in this position. I spent most of my time wondering whether I would have a playing contract for the following year.

"I didn’t (even) think I’d be in this position a few months ago.

“I was at a stage in my career whereby I was quite keen to progress. Ash knew that; I didn’t hide that in any way, shape or form, but I honestly didn’t think the opportunity would come here as quickly as it did.

“It’s a big job and we’ve got a lot to live up to on the back of last year,” Brown said given Warwickshire won the 2012 championship

“The club’s been part of my life really for a long, long time. To be given the opportunity to drive the cricket forward is something I didn’t really dream about.”

Brown is well aware he has big shoes to fill, with Warwickshire having won the LV= County Championship and finished as runners-up in the Clydesdale Bank 40 in Giles’ final year at the helm.

“It’s a big job and we’ve got a lot to live up to on the back of last year,” he added.

“If we can come somewhere close we’ll have done really well. He (Giles) was doing so many things really well. It’s a big challenge but a really exciting one.”

Warwickshire will again head to Barbados as part of their pre-season preparations.

Brown is delighted to be returning to the Caribbean and believes it is no coincidence that the winners of each domestic trophy last summer spent time in Barbados prior to the campaign getting under way.

“We’ve been there for the last three years now. The facilities are tremendous,” he explained.

“Last year every single domestic winner, including the championship second division runners-up and winners, were on pre-season in Barbados - so it’s a pretty good place to go.

“The players came back and it could have been easy for them to just meander a little bit (as they waited for Giles’ successor to be appointed), but in fairness they haven’t. They’ve embraced the situation, got their heads down and immersed themselves in the work they’ve got to do.

“It’s really important that we don’t idle and wait for that nice, sunny clime to get around, because if we don’t keep going forward in the next three or four weeks then other people will be catching us up.”

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