Leading sports performance specialist joins Warwickshire CCC

James Thomas, one of sport’s leading high performance experts, has joined Warwickshire County Cricket Club as its new performance director.

He will be responsible for bringing future success to the Warwickshire men, Bears women and Birmingham Phoenix cricket teams.

James (pictured) joins from Manchester City FC where he is the director of Performance Services and is part of City Football Group’s global network of eleven professional teams. 

Previously he was instrumental in building the foundations for a high performing environment   at British Gymnastics, delivering considerable medal success at the Tokyo Olympics.

In his 20-year high performance career, he has successfully worked within a number of team and individual sports, quickly learning what it takes to create the right environment for success.  These include boxing, judo, wheelchair rugby and athletics.

James replaces Gavin Larsen who stood down at the end of last season. 

He takes up the role at Edgbaston in early June but will spend time with the men’s and women’s squads during pre-season.

In his playing days, he was a professional rugby union player and understands what it means to compete in multiple competitions over a long season. 

Warwickshire chief executive Stuart Cain said: “James is recognised in  high performance sport as a real talent and has demonstrated ability to cross sports and quickly grasp what’s important in order to deliver success.

“We wanted someone with real strategic experience of creating world-class, successful performance environments. He’s done that in football, arguably one of the toughest performance environments in world sport, and been equally successful with individual athletes in high-pressure Olympic sports. 

“He’s proved that he can move in to a new sport and quickly create a successful performance environment that leads to medals and trophies by developing the facilities and structures needed to create world class players and teams.

“Having worked globally, he also understands the impact of other leagues on domestic structures, something we really need to get our head around as franchise cricket develops.”

“I think James’ desire to become a Bear illustrates how the world of cricket is changing and professionalising as a global sport to rival football.”

The search to appoint an experienced performance director was handled by specialist high performance recruitment and advisory consultancy, Elite Performance Partners.

Thomas’ role at Manchester City FC saw him lead the performance department across disciplines including sports science, performance analytics, medicine, psychology, all aimed at supporting the individual development of players and on-pitch team performance in the Academy.

He is also a non-executive performance director at England and GB Badminton, chair of the Partnership Board at the Manchester Institute of Health & Performance, and a former member of the UK Performance Directors Strategic Group.

Thomas said: "Throughout the recruitment process I was impressed by the Club’s desire to retain and celebrate its proud Bears culture, whilst embracing the opportunity to evolve and build a high-performance environment that’s capable of achieving sustained, long term success.

“I am excited to meet the players, coaches and wider staff, as we look to work together to achieve extraordinary cricket performances in the future.”