John Bracewell will relinquish his job as the Irish head coach in December

The head coach of Ireland cricket team John Bracewell is all set to vacate his chair in December. The Irish team has struggled under the supervision of the former New Zealand coach in the recent times. Bracewell joined the team last year in April.

They have suffered defeat against Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup in March this year. They were also subjected to humiliation from Bangladesh, England and New Zealand in ODIs.

Alongside Afghanistan, Ireland has secured a Test status recently. Bracewell and his team decided to part with the men in green after a mutual agreement. The 59-year old will not coach the team as they don the white jerseys.

However, Bracewell will be in charge of the team for Ireland’s next Intercontinental Cup game against Netherlands that will take place at Malahide next month.The match against the Windies, which is scheduled to be played on 13th September at Belfast, will be Bracewell’s last match as the head coach of the team.

“Having been down the full-on Full Member road before with New Zealand Cricket, it is not my desire to do so again. Whilst my wife and I have immersed ourselves into Ireland and Irish culture we feel it is now time to return home to New Zealand and our families,” Bracewell was qouted as saying by BBC.

“I  have loved working with an honest group of players whose values and work ethic have been second to none. As challenging as the future may be, they will be the first to honour the Test cap and I am proud to have spent some time with them on that journey,” said the emotional departing coach.

Cricket Ireland thanks Bracewell for his contribution

In the recent times, we have seen former Indian head coach Anil Kumble step down from his post. He had differences in opinion with the skipper and had no other option than to quit. But Cricket Ireland (CI) is parting away with Bracewell after giving due credit to him for his contributions towards Irish cricket. Eight cricketers have debited for the team during John’s reign.

“John is a man of great integrity who has offered a great deal to Irish cricket’s cause in the last two years. He is admired by the players and his colleagues at Cricket Ireland,” said CI’s chief executive Warren Deutrom.

“The last two years have been a difficult period of transition and rebuilding in which John has tried to nurture inexperienced talent against the best teams in the world. His last five months remain a very important period where I look forward to working with him to further invest in our key priority areas with new full member status now in place,” commented CI’s performance director Richard Holdsworth.