Shropshire Star

Karl Krikken leaves Shropshire for Lancashire

Karl Krikken has stood down from his role as Shropshire’s director of cricket to take up a full time coaching position at Lancashire County Cricket Club.

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Karl Krikken

Krikken, who replaced Kevin Sharp as Shropshire coach in 2014, has been appointed lead coach in Lancashire's Indoor Cricket Centre at Emirates Old Trafford.

He has also been named head coach of Lancashire’s under-14s and will play an important role in their Cricket’s Talent ID programme.

Krikken, who is excited by his new role, stressed he had enjoyed his time with Shropshire.

He said: “I am extremely grateful to Toby Shaw, the chairman, and the Shropshire board for giving me the opportunity to join the county and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I’ve met lots of great people in Shropshire and I’ve really enjoyed working with the players. There’s lots of exciting talent in the county and I firmly believe the future is bright for Shropshire cricket.

“I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on how the team perform and I’ll look forward to coming down to watch a game soon."

He added: "I‘m really excited about the opportunity to join Lancashire. The club’s age-group and pathway system is one of the best in the country and you can see that in how many of the current squad have come through the Lancashire system are now playing an important role in the first team.”

Shropshire chairman Toby Shaw said he wished Krikken every success in his new role with Lancashire.

“He’s been fantastic for Shropshire in terms of his professionalism and his approach,” he said. “He’s helped the development of many of the players.

“His coaching abilities were very well received by the players and we are sorry to see him go.

“But he’s given us a good foundation and over the winter he led our Emerging Player Programme at Shrewsbury School with lots of very positive feedback from the younger players.

“We will keep in touch and his involvement has been very beneficial to the county.”

Krikken enjoyed a long association with Derbyshire CCC before joining Shropshire, serving the East Midlands club for 27 years as a player and coach.

He was initially named Shropshire coach before being appointed the county’s first director of cricket the following year with responsibility for both the first team and development squad.