New South Wales and Sydney Sixers to part ways with decorated coach Greg Shipperd

Shipperd will coach NSW until the end of the season but will not see out his contract with both teams despite being locked in until the end of 2026-27

New South Wales and Sydney Sixers will part ways with decorated title winning coach Greg Shipperd with a year to run on his current contract in both roles.

Shipperd, who turns 70 in November, was re-signed on a two-year deal to coach both New South Wales and Sydney Sixers until the end of the 2026-27 season but after guiding Sixers to the BBL final last week and positioning them within reach of making a Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup final with four and three rounds remaining in both seasons respectively, the veteran coach has been told this will be his final season in both roles.

He will leave the Sixers job immediately having coached the team to five finals, including this year, and two titles. He will remain as coach of the NSW Shield and One-Day Cup team until the end of the season.RelatedNo chance to train: Sydney Sixers coach questions BBL finals schedule

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Cricket NSW chief executive Lee Germon said it was a difficult decision to make but believed it was the right time for a fresh voice.

"Decisions to change key personnel are never easy, but we felt it was time to move in a new direction to give the Blues and Sixers the best chance to win titles," Germon said in a statement.

Shipperd did not hide his disappointment in the decision in the same statement, saying that he was keen to continue in both roles for the remainder of his contract.

"My contract was to conclude at the end of the 2026/27 season and so I'm incredibly disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to honour my commitment and continue to develop the wonderful young players I have been working with," Shipperd said.Greg Shipperd addresses his players•Getty Images

"I am extremely proud of my coaching team for building the foundation of a new generation and I wish them all success beyond my time here."

Shipperd is the godfather of cricket coaching in Australia having began his coaching career with Tasmania in the 1990s after a lengthy domestic career with WA and Tasmania as an opening batter. He made his Sheffield Shield debut in 1977-78 and has remained a key figure in Australian domestic over five decades.

He has coached both David Boon and Sam Konstas in domestic cricket. He coached Tasmania for 11 seasons, including to three Shield finals. He coached Victoria for a decade, leading them to four Shield titles, one One-Day Cup, and four state Big Bash titles. He also coached Melbourne Stars in the first four years of the BBL to four finals series before taking the job at Sixers and leading them through a glittering period of sustained success.

He has also had a huge influence on a number of the coaches within the Australian system having coached current Australia coach Andrew McDonald at Victoria. He coached Australia's batting coach Michael Di Venuto at Tasmania. He also coached Victoria's current coach Chris Rogers as well as a vast number of assistant coaches and high performance administrators currently working in the Australian domestic system.

He took the NSW job in 2022 as an interim coach after Phil Jacques was sacked. He was given the role full-time at the end of the 2022-23 season. He had overseen incremental improvement in Shield and One-Day cricket. After NSW finished last in 2022-23 they climbed to third in the Shield in 2023-24 and fourth in 2024-25. The also made the final of Australia's One-Day Cup competition in 2023-24 but were beaten by Western Australia at home. They finished third in the competition last season.

Shipperd was confident that his New South Wales side was improving year-on-year and was extremely passionate about developing the next crop of Australian players from the young NSW group. Konstas made his Test debut in December 2024 while New South Wales skipper Jack Edwards made his international debut on Thursday in the first T20I against Pakistan in Lahore.

"Progress is being made," Shipperd told ESPNCricinfo in June.

"The next step for us is to win those crunch games more often than we did, in particular at the back end of last year.

"We need to put in place that next six or seven Australian players [like those] that have been sitting in the Australian team for many years now. That's the challenge. We're chasing it aggressively."