Graham Xavier Ford (born 16 November 1960) is a South African cricket coach and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. Formerly the head coach of the

Sri Lankan national cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

, he was also the head coach of the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland particip ...

. A right-handed batsman, he played 7 games for Natal B in his career despite playing his last game seven years after his debut in 1982/83. He was a good allrounder sportsman, being a former provincial tennis champion and representing Natal at football. Ford is also a qualified

rugby union referee Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the rugby union laws of the game during a match and imposing sanctions on individuals who do not follow the rules. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the r ...

Cricket coaching career

In 1992 he became coach of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

where he enjoyed the services of

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

Clive Rice Clive Edward Butler Rice (23 July 1949 – 28 July 2015) was a South African international cricketer. An all-rounder, Rice ended his First Class cricket career with a batting average of 40.95 and a bowling average of 22.49. He captained Nott ...

Shaun Pollock Shaun Maclean Pollock OIS (born 16 July 1973) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who was captain in all formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and allrounders of all time. A genu ...

Jonty Rhodes Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes (born 27 July 1969) is a South African professional cricket commentator and former Test and One Day International cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest fielders of all time and was the first South African ...

and Lance Klusener. He led the province to victory in both the first class and one day trophies in 1996–97. Ford coached the South Africa A side in 1998 in a tour of Sri Lanka and the following year was named the assistant coach of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. As assistant to

Bob Woolmer Robert Andrew Woolmer (14 May 1948 – 18 March 2007) was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a Sportscaster, commentator. He played in 19 Test cricket, Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coach ...

he coached South Africa in the 1999 World Cup where they reached the semi finals before being eliminated by Australia. Following the tournament he replaced Woolmer as coach and led the country to victory in 8 of the 11 series that they played but having suffered back-to-back defeats against Australia he lost his job in June 2002. Ford became director of cricket at

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 2005. In 2006 he returned to South Africa to coach the

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

but left the role the same year for personal reasons. On 9 June 2007 he was offered the position of coach of the Indian cricket team, but two days later he declined the offer, citing "it was the right decision for me and my family". It was announced on 31 July 2009 that he would not be returning to Kent for the 2010 season, again citing personal reasons. In January 2012, he was appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lanka national team, replacing

Geoff Marsh Geoffrey Robert Marsh (born 31 December 1958) is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman. As the coach of Australia he was in charge w ...

. In September 2013, he declined to extend his two-year term beyond January 2014 and stepped down from his post as head coach of Sri Lanka national team. On 27 February 2014, he accepted the post of head coach at Surrey County Cricket Club.

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

, in the twilight of his career, cited Ford's presence at Surrey as a reason for him to go there in 2015 and praised his influence on

Sri Lankan cricket Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is one of the twelve nations that take part in Test cricket and one of the six nations that has won a cricket World Cup. Cricket is played at professional, semi-professional and recreationa ...

. In January 2016, Ford was once again appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. However, Sri Lanka Cricket contracted Ford until

2019 ICC Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

, his second tenure ended after 15 months in late June 2017. In September 2017, Ford was appointed as Ireland's head coach initially on a three-year contract but his contract with

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

was further extended by three years in 2019. During his tenure as the head coach of Ireland men's national cricket team, he oversaw a transitional phase with the team. Ireland also eventually received the ICC test status during his coaching stint and Ireland played in as many as 101 international matches under his guidance. In November 2021, he resigned from the position of Ireland head coach citing bio-bubble fatigue, mental health concerns and family commitments.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Graham 1960 births Alumni of Maritzburg College Bangladesh Premier League coaches Coaches of the South Africa national cricket team Coaches of the Sri Lanka national cricket team KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Living people South African cricketers South African cricket coaches Coaches of the Irish national cricket team