Chris Adams is leaving Sussex to take over as cricket manager at Surrey.

He has been given a three-year contract and his appointment will be confirmed later this week.

The 38-year-old is also retiring as a player after 21 years in the game, the last 11 of them as the most successful captain in Sussex’s history.

Under Adams, the county won three Championships and four one-day titles.

Adams still had a year left on his contract at Sussex after handing over the captaincy to Mike Yardy for next season.

But Sussex have agreed to his release and he will start work at The Oval next month.

Adams has made no secret of his desire to move into cricket management and will relish the opportunity to help revive the fortunes of arguably the biggest county in the country. Surrey were relegated to division two without winning a game last season and made little impression in the one-day competitions either.

Gus Mackay left his job as Sussex’s chief executive in September to take over a new role at Surrey which gives him responsiblity for their entire cricket operation.

One of his first tasks was to find a new professional cricket supremo after former coach Alan Butcher left at the end of the season.

It is a case of third time lucky for Adams in his search for a new role after playing.

He was interviewed for a similar position at Hampshire in September and then got onto a shortlist of five for the job of replacing Mackay before Sussex went instead for David Brooks.

With Adams gone, Sussex will have the flexiblity to strengthen their squad still further following the signings of Ed Joyce and Yasir Arafat although their priority might be recruiting another bowler rather than a like-for-like batting replacement for Adams.

Leave your tributes to the most successful captain in Sussex's history.