Kent have announced a shake-up of their coaching structure which sees Graham Ford leave the club and a return for former wicketkeeper Paul Farbrace.

South African Ford, who has been Kent's Director of Cricket since 2004, will not be returning next season for family reasons.

In response to this, Kent have announced changes to some of their top coaching positions with Farbrace returning to the county as head coach after standing down from his position with Sri Lanka.

Simon Willis, the current Professional Cricket Manager, will move into a new job of Cricket Operations and Talent Development Manager.

The county's Chairman of Cricket, Graham Johnson, said: "We are naturally sorry that Graham cannot continue with the club next season, but are delighted that Paul Farbrace has agreed to come back to Kent.

"The changes we are making sustain the quality of our coaching team, respond to personal circumstances, reflect the changing domestic cricket environment and play to individual strengths.

"This new and exciting structure is aimed at achieving our two key objectives of on field success at first team level and the all important task of nurturing talent from within Kent into the professional game."