Glen Chapple ends 31-year association as he stands down as Lancashire head coach

Glen Chapple will end an unbroken 31-year association with Lancashire this week, when he steps down as the club's head coach at the conclusion of their ongoing contest against Kent.

Chapple, 49, has been in his current role for the past seven seasons, having previously worked as Ashley Giles' first-team coach for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and as acting head coach in 2014 following the departure of Peter Moores to the England job.

Prior to that, Chapple had served as a player-coach in the latter years of a record-breaking playing career, in which he claimed 1373 wickets in 664 appearances for Lancashire across all formats and captained the side to the County Championship title in 2011 for the first time in 77 years.

After making his first-class debut in 1992 and his List A debut the following year, Chapple also became a key figure in the great Lancashire team that claimed nine one-day trophies between 1989 and 1999.

His finest hour in that phase of his career came at Lord's in 1996, in the final of the NatWest Trophy, when he returned figures of 6 for 18 to bowl Essex out for 57. But he was surprisingly overlooked by England in the prime of his career, and eventually played a solitary ODI against Ireland in 2006, at the age of 32.

As Lancashire's head coach, Chapple led the club to three second-place finishes in Division One of the County Championship and reached T20 Finals Day on three occasions too. However, last year's thrilling one-run defeat to Hampshire was the closest they came to lifting the title. Carl Crowe and Graham Onions are among the internal candidates to succeed him in the role.

Mark Chilton, Lancashire's director of cricket performance, said: "Glen has been an incredible servant to Lancashire Cricket over the past 30 years - as a player, captain and most recently as head coach - and on behalf of the club, I'd like to thank him for everything he's achieved.

"He will go down as a legend of the club from what he achieved during his playing career and has overseen a sustained period of success over the last seven years as head coach.

"Glen's shown a relentless commitment and passion to the Red Rose during his time as head coach and we wish him every success in the next steps of his career."

Chapple added: "I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at Lancashire over the years and I would like to thank all the players, staff and members and supporters for the support I've received - both as a player and as a coach - during my career at Emirates Old Trafford.

"I feel that now is the right time in my career to explore and pursue other coaching opportunities and I wish the club all the best for the future."