Lancashire Cricket has announced that, as “part of a restructuring of the performance set-up,” Mark Chilton and David Thorley will be leaving the club.
Chilton’s association with the Red Rose has spanned more than two decades. He made almost 200 first-class appearances for Lancashire between 1997 and 2011, captaining the side from 2005 to 2007 and playing an important role in the County Championship-winning campaign in 2011. He returned to Lancashire’s coaching staff in 2014 and was appointed director of cricket performance in 2021.
Thorley, director of women’s cricket, has overseen Lancashire Women since January 2020, a period that encompassed the regional structure before the transition to a professional county set-up ahead of the 2025 season. During his tenure, Lancashire Women won the Metro Bank One-Day Cup and the Vitality T20 County Cup.
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Lancashire Cricket chief executive, Daniel Gidney, said: “Decisions like this are always incredibly tough to make, but we believe a restructure of the performance set-up is necessary to move the Club forward.
“We all share the ambition of seeing our Lancashire teams win games, progress in competitions and compete for trophies. For the men’s side, the County Championship is at the heart of the Club’s cricket vision, while for Lancashire Women, our aim is to consistently challenge for major honours.
“I would like to express my thanks to Mark for his long association with the Red Rose and to David for leading the women’s side through such a transformational period. Their contribution and commitment to Lancashire Cricket over the years is very much appreciated, and we wish them both well for the future.”
The departures come after Lancashire’s men’s team endured a miserable year. Instead of bouncing back after relegation to Division Two, they collapsed to second-to-bottom, suffering heavy defeats against Middlesex, Gloucestershire, and Kent. Their white-ball campaigns offered no redemption, failing to progress past the group stage in the Vitality Blast and suffered a crushing 162-run quarter-final exit to Durham in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Fan disquiet over a perceived imbalance between commercial and cricket matters was heightened by the sale of a majority stake in Hundred team Manchester Originals to Indian company RPSG Group, and a subsequent rebrand to Manchester Super Giants, complete with an incongruous new logo featuring the rarely spotted Lancashire elephant. A vote of no confidence in the board failed in June, while an anonymous board member of a rival team described Lancashire Cricket to the Telegraph as “an events club that has a weak cricket team attached to it.”
Conversely, the Women’s squad enjoyed a solid if unspectacular season, building on their prior twin-trophy legacy and transitioning into a fully professional setup, but Thorley joins Chilton with a box in the car park regardless.
