Adams brings a wealth of experience to Irish set-up

The 45-year-old former England Test player will oversee the development of the next generation of Irish stars, replacing Craig Hogan who is returning to his native Australia for family reasons.

Adams brings a wealth of experience to the role, gained over a successful 20 year career as a player with Derbyshire and Sussex.

While captain at Sussex he won nine trophies in 11 seasons, being named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2004.

Following his retirement from playing in 2008, he has filled a variety of roles, including Team Director at Surrey, as well as international coaching work with Sri Lanka and The Netherlands.

The appointment of the experienced Adams is another important step for Irish cricket towards its long stated objective of gaining ICC Full Member status - joining the Test match-playing nations - and towards retaining the best young talent in Ireland.

“I am really looking forward to starting in my new role,” said Adams.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to work with Ireland’s emerging talent, and I hope my experience and knowledge will help all the players and academy coaching staff achieve their potential.

“The goal will most definitely be to ensure that Ireland head coach John Bracewell has the very best talent supply over the next few years, to ensure we remain on course to be competitive across all three forms of the game at the highest level. “

The appointment of Adams was welcomed by Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth who said: “We are very pleased to secure the services of Chris.

“We definitely see him as an integral part of overseeing the development of our most talented young players and those on the fringes of the national team over the coming years.

“We are now looking to develop our talent into world class players who are capable of performing against the best in the world in all three formats.

“With Chris’ experience of coaching internationally, not to mention as a player in the Test arena with England, he will bring great understanding of what it takes to perform at the highest level.

“Our one-day international fixture list is increasing all the time, and with more multi-day and T20 cricket in the pipeline, we need to ensure we have young players who are challenging the established senior players for places and ready to compete on the world stage.

“We would like to thank Craig Hogan for his terrific work in establishing the Shapoorji Pallonji Cricket Ireland Academy into a world class programme, and we wish him all the best on his return back to Australia. “

Established in 2013, the Shapoorji Pallonji Academy aims to identify and support the most talented young male and female players in the country, and provide them with a bespoke world-class player development programme in order to have the best possible chance of success on the international stage.