Hopkinson relishes new Sussex role (From The Argus)

Hopkinson relishes new Sussex role

1:09pm Thursday 5th January 2012 in Cricket News By Mike Legg

Carl Hopkinson is relishing the chance to widen his cricket experience by taking on the role of Sussex Second XI coach for the coming season.

In a restructuring of coaching roles at Hove, Mark Davis, who has been in charge of the Second XI, will work alongside coach Mark Robinson with the first team as he and Hopkinson effectively switch jobs.

Hopkinson, 30, who retired in 2009, said: “Myself, Robbo (Mark Robinson) and Davo (Mark Davis) spoke at the end of last year about changing things and giving me a little more responsibility.

“I have been assistant to the first team for two years so this seems a good time to change things around.

“Davo is going to be around the first team a bit more while I will get the experience of running my own team and also bring through some more of the youngsters which Davo has done brilliantly for the last five or six years.

“It is a good freshen up for the whole coaching structure and also for Robbo to have someone different working with him.

“It will work well for all three parties.”

Hopkinson believes his new job will provide a different perspective as the club seeks to ensure all its coaches have an overview of how the teams run.

He added: “It’s not a case of things needing to change but more to give people different experience in different areas.

“You see things one way if you stay in one role. If you go and do something else in a different role, you can see things through fresh eyes and get a different perspective. That will work well.

“I will still be around the one-day cricket a lot and myself and Davo will still change between first and second team but I’ll be predominantly with the Second XI.”

Former batsman Hopkinson, who was Sussex’s Young Player of the Year in 2000 and came through the ranks at Hove, admits it will help his long-term ambition of becoming a head coaching job in county cricket.

He said: “There is a different feeling when you are running a side yourself when you win, lose or draw as opposed to just being an assistant.

“That is something I want to experience and want to gain an understanding of.

“You always want to try and progress as an individual and test yourself in areas that you haven’t before.

“If a job comes along in the future then that would be fantastic.”

Hopkinson is also looking forward to seeing more of the Academy prospects.

He said: “The nice thing for me is in the winter I work with the Academy quite a bit but in the summer I never see them unless I do a Second XI game when they are playing.

“It will be nice to have a closer eye on that and hopefully get to see a few Academy games at weekends when the first team may be playing away.

“There will be more things that I will be able to go and do which will be good.”

Cricket manager Mark Robinson believes the switch will aid both coaches’ development and the club’s ambitions.

He said: “We felt that it was important to have a change for the new season as both coaches will benefit from the new responsibilities.

“One thing we are keen to continue is that all of the professional coaches spend enough time in each other’s areas so we all have a good understanding of how all aspects of the coaching pathway are developing.

“This includes our cricket performance manager Keith Greenfield, who will continue to spend time with both myself and Carl in the summer.”