Boon takes Leicestershire role

Tim Boon was part of the England Management Team © Getty Images

The ECB has confirmed that England assistant coach/analyst Tim Boon is to join Leicestershire as their new senior coach.

Boon, the former England Under 19 and Under 17 coach, will be returning to the county for whom he scored more than 11,000 first class runs during a playing career that spanned 15 years.

The 44-year-old Yorkshireman will take up his new post at the beginning of February.

Commenting on his departure, England coach Duncan Fletcher said: “Tim has been a very valuable member of the England Management Team both as assistant coach and also in the analyst role, logging, analysing and presenting footage of the opposition and the England team.

“Whilst I will be sorry to see him leave the England camp, I am pleased that he has landed an exciting coaching opportunity with Leicestershire.

"Tim is an ambitious coach and coaching a county side will be an important part of his coaching development.”

ECB Deputy Chief Executive, Hugh Morris, added: “Tim has made a major contribution to our cricket in his nine years in important coaching roles with ECB.

“I am delighted that he will be continuing to make an important contribution to domestic cricket in his new role at Leicestershire.”

Boon believes his time with England has helped him develop as a coach and is now relishing his return to Grace Road.

Boon worked with some of the best players in the world with England © Getty Images

He said: “It has been a valuable experience working in a world class environment with some of the best coaches and players at senior international level and this has given me an insight to the critical success factors and benchmarks.

“My original intention had been to stay with England for a further 12 months until after the 2007 World Cup.

“I discussed my future plans closely with Duncan Fletcher and John Carr, the ECB’s Director of Cricket Operations, in 2004, at which time I gained their agreement to my future plans where I would leave the team to pursue a Head Coach role.

“The situation at Leicestershire provides me with the opportunities I am looking for, in short to work alongside the management team and players to bring sustained success to the club.

“I was impressed with the chairman’s exciting vision for the club and look forward to returning to Leicestershire where I have so many fond memories from my time there as a player.”

Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson expressed his delight after confirming Boon's appointment, saying: “Tim has outstanding coaching credentials, having worked with some of the biggest names in the game and picked up a lot from working alongside Duncan Fletcher in his time as an England coach.

“We wanted a senior coach with a more hands-on approach to get the best out of our players with a strong focus on developing the young talent at Grace Road, and we feel he is the right man for that job.”

He added: “It’s a measure of Tim’s standing as a coach that he was asked to assist John Wright, the World XI Coach, with the ICC Super Series against Australia recently where he worked on a one-to-one basis with the likes of Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid and Shaun Pollock.

“While he has enjoyed all that international success, he has also retained a strong link and a great affection for the county where he played his entire first class cricket career and so we are delighted to welcome him back.”