Cricket Ireland have appointed Norfolk Board Performance Manger Chris Brown as their High Performance spin bowling coach.

The 49 year-old replaces former Australian Test player Nathan Hauritz who resigned from the role for personal reasons earlier this year.

The appointment is on the face of it a very underwhelming one with Brown a virtual unknown.

Following a short playing spell with Lancashire, he played minor counties cricket with Norfolk, before he switched to coaching.

He has worked for a variety of club and countries primarily as a scout and consultant including ECB, Nottinghamshire and Scotland.

“I am delighted and honoured to be joining Cricket Ireland and can’t wait to get started," said Brown who will start the role full-time in January, operating as a consultant before then.

"It’s been an ambition of mine to work with an ICC Test playing Nation on a full-time basis and with the increasing demands across all formats for spin bowlers, I’m excited to be able to provide the current and emerging players, the skills and mindset to inspire them, allowing them to grow and develop to be successful over a long period of time."

Ireland Head Coach Heinrich Malan welcomed the appointment saying:

“We are delighted to appoint Chris as the new High Performance Spin Bowling Coach – his breadth of knowledge and experience will be an absolute asset to the Irish performance system.

“As we move into an era when spin variations in white ball cricket are becoming essential and playing in spin-friendly conditions is fast becoming the norm for our teams, it is important that we develop our capacity to bring through spinners skilled and prepared for the international stage.

"Some great groundwork was undertaken by Nathan Hauritz in establishing the role, now to bring Chris in will, I believe, take the development side of our current and emerging spinners to the next level."