Middlesex Cricket is delighted to announce today that Richard Johnson will be returning to the Club to take up the role of First Team Coach.
Johnson, 47, will leave his post as Assistant Coach at Surrey County Cricket Club, to join Middlesex from mid-February ahead of the start of the 2022 season.
As a former player of the Club Johnson made his Middlesex debut in 1992. A hugely successful ten-year playing career at Lord’s ended in 2001 when he joined Somerset, where he played for a further six seasons, before returning to Middlesex in 2007 and bringing his professional playing career to an end later that year.
He joined Middlesex’s coaching team in 2011, working underneath Head Coach Richard Scott as the Club’s fast bowling coach, and helped the Club secure the Second Division Championship title in his first year on the coaching staff.
In 2016, alongside Scott, he oversaw Middlesex’s County Championship title winning season as Assistant Coach before stepping up to the Head Coach’s role for the second half of the 2018 season following Scott’s departure from the Club.
In 2019 Johnson left Middlesex, following the appointment of Stuart Law as the Club’s new Head Coach, when he joined Surrey as their Assistant Coach.
His return to Middlesex, working alongside Head of Men’s Performance Cricket, Alan Coleman, and Club Coach, Rory Coutts, completes the restructuring on the Club’s professional men’s coaching set-up and will see him working again with many of the current Middlesex squad who he played a leading hand in developing in their early careers.
Speaking of the appointment of Johnson as the Club’s new First Team Coach, Middlesex Chief Executive Andrew Cornish commented:
“We are absolutely thrilled that Richard has accepted our offer to join the Club as First Team Coach.
“In what was an extremely competitive recruitment process, we were fortunate to interview a number of exceptionally high calibre candidates, however for us, Richard stood out.
“His credentials as a Coach are unquestionable and he returns to Middlesex with even greater knowledge and experience following his time coaching with Surrey. Culturally he is absolutely the right fit and the right man for the job. He has worked closely with the majority of our playing squad before, knows their strengths, and conversely the areas they need to improve upon, and he has a brilliant working relationship with the rest of our newly appointed coaching team.
“Richard understands our vision for the future, has brought some brilliant ideas to the table already, and we are really excited to have him on board and playing a major role in the next phase of the Club’s future.”
On accepting the Middlesex First Team Coach’s role, Johnson said:
“I feel incredibly honoured to be given the chance to be the First Team Coach of this amazing club. It is a place that I hold extremely close to my heart, having been associated with the Club since I was ten years old.
“The opportunity to return and give my all in trying to make Middlesex successful again is one that not only excites me but makes me incredibly proud.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Surrey, and especially Alec Stewart for the past three years. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and wish the players and the Club all the very best for the future.
“Lastly, I want to thank Andrew Cornish, Alan Coleman, and the Middlesex Board for giving me the chance to realise a dream, and they can be rest assured that I will give everything I have to help make Middlesex successful again.”
