News

Mark Alleyne MBE appointed Gloucestershire Head Coach

1 February 2024

Gloucestershire Cricket is delighted to announce Mark Alleyne as the Club’s new Head Coach on a three-year-deal.

Alleyne, Shire’s most decorated player with nine trophies and a County Championship promotion to his name, will join up with Gloucestershire at the beginning of March to take charge of the remainder of pre-season training.

Since the conclusion of his playing career in 2004, Alleyne, who is a hugely popular figure among Gloucestershire’s fanbase, has held several coaching positions including the Head Coach position at Nevil Road between 2005 and 2007. Most recently, only last season, the 55-year-old acted as white-ball Head Coach at Glamorgan for the T20 Vitality Blast and Metro Bank One Day Cup campaigns.

Alleyne, who represented England in 10 ODIs during his playing days, also coached the England Men’s T20 side during the 2022 tour of West Indies, has been part of the set-up at The Hundred’s Welsh Fire and currently leads the cricket coaching department at the prestigious Marlborough College.

Alleyne’s appointment at Gloucestershire comes following a rigorous recruitment process spanning several weeks.

Speaking of his excitement at returning to Gloucestershire as Head Coach, Alleyne said: “I’m feeling truly blessed to be given the opportunity to lead Gloucestershire, a county I have many happy memories of from during my playing days.

“I’m now at a time in my career where I’ve been exposed to coaching right at the top level for a number of years and have gained lots of experience, and I’m hoping the skills I’ve picked up along the way will allow me to have a positive impact on the team.

“I know a lot of the players already from my time here in 2021 and it’s been brilliant to see many of those younger players come through the ranks to dominate the first-team. There is a really exciting blend of youth and experience at Gloucestershire and that’s why when the opportunity came up, I didn’t give it a second thought. I can’t wait to get started and am excited to see what the future holds.”

Having captained Gloucestershire to nine trophies and a promotion in seven years, starting with a Benson & Hedges Super Cup win in 1999, Alleyne is renowned for the success he brought to the Club, particularly in white ball cricket.

In his two decades at Glos so far, as both player and coach, Alleyne has broken many a Gloucestershire record. Not only is he the Club’s most decorated player, Alleyne is also the Club’s highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in List-A cricket. His success at Gloucestershire is so historic in fact, that a mural of him was painted onto the walls of the Seat Unique Stadium in 2019. Alleyne’s career in numbers also features at the ‘Legends Walkway’ area of the ground, which celebrates a selection of Gloucestershire and Western Storm’s greatest ever players.

A highly talented all-rounder, Alleyne scored 14,214 runs and took 407 wickets across 314 First-Class matches for Gloucestershire and scored 15,327 runs and claimed 393 wickets in 413 List A appearances for Shire.

Whilst Mark will join the Club on March 1st, he will continue to support Marlborough College during the early part of the summer and all at the Club would like to express our thanks to the College for their support of Mark and Gloucestershire during this time.

Will Brown, Chief Executive at Gloucestershire Cricket, added: “It is absolutely fantastic to welcome Mark back to the Club as our new Head Coach; he has a long and glittering history of winning trophies here at Gloucestershire and is just as hungry for success now as a coach as he was during his playing days.

“We saw some incredible people during the interview process but it was clear that Mark’s combination of skills and experience made him the stand-out candidate for the role and alongside assistant coaches like Will Porterfield and Tom Smith we know we now have an exciting and progressive coaching team.

“During the interview process Mark spoke incredibly highly of the group of players we have here and was very clear about his vision, love of the Club and his desire to help this squad develop to achieve individual and team ambitions.

“Having had the privilege to get to know Mark over recent years there is no doubt that he is in a fantastic place to take on the role and to help bring some happiness, progress and success to our on and off-field teams as well as our members and supporters.”

Graeme van Buuren, Club Captain at Gloucestershire, commented: “Mark’s knowledge of the game is amazing and he’s achieved great things here as a player, so all of us players are really excited to begin working with him in the coming weeks.

“One thing Mark knows how to do is win and I’m sure the lessons he has learned over the years will be invaluable to us. It’s an exciting time to be at Gloucestershire and we’re all looking forward to the start of the season.”

David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, President at Gloucestershire, added: “Mark has gained a lot of coaching experience in recent years and I believe the players will really benefit from drawing on Mark’s knowledge and experience to make improvements as a team. Mark has great character and is really passionate about Gloucestershire and helping Gloucestershire succeed.”

2024 Membership

With the news that Mark Alleyne has been announced as Head Coach, the Membership Early Bird deadline has been extended until Friday 9th February. Watch Mark and his side in action this summer with One Day Membership starting from £139 and Full Membership from £239. Become Glorious today before prices increase on Saturday 10th February.

Buy Membership here

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