RICHARD DAWSON, a major cog in the team under Jason Gillespie which steered Yorkshire to the 2014 county championship title, is joining Gloucestershire with immediate effect as head coach.

Dawson, 34, is well known and popular around Bristol's County Ground already having ended his playing career with the county in 2011, staying on to become specialist spin-bowling and one-day coach.

He subsequently moved on to work with England U17s and U19s before taking up his role at Yorkshire.

Among the young Yorkshire cricketers who have emerged in the last year or two have been Test stars Joe Root and Gary Ballance along with Alex Lees of the England Lions.

Dawson, a former England Test off spinner, has also been Head of Cricket at Gordounstoun School.

Dawson is believed to have beaten off a strong short list of candidates for the job including former West Indies coach Ottis Gibson and Somerset assistant coach Jason Kerr.

John Bracewell left his position as Gloucestershire's director of cricket in December and Dawson will head up a totally different coaching structure at the County Ground.

Will Brown, Gloucestershire cricket’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have secured Richard as our new head coach.

"He brings a wealth of coaching experience through his time with Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and as a former England performance programme spin coach.

“We saw some very good candidates but he really shone through during the recruitment process.

"I would like to place on record my thanks to Yorkshire for their co-operation in allowing Richard to join us with immediate effect and we can look forward to a successful 2015 season with him at the helm.

“Following on from Richard’s appointment we now plan to begin our search for an assistant head coach in the next two weeks.”

Dawson said: “This is my first head coach role so I know it will be tough but I am looking forward to the challenge.

“During my time with Yorkshire I was fortunate to work with some outstanding coaches, players and backroom staff. I learned a lot from them and look forward to putting that into practice at Gloucestershire.

“We have a good young squad here and my aim will be to help them compete in all competitions. We will be working hard every day to try and make the small improvements that will bring us success on the field.”