Jason Gillespie: Yorkshire coach to leave county at end of season

Gillespie could lead Yorkshire to their first County Championship hat-trick since 1968

Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie will leave his role at the end of the season, the county have confirmed.

The 41-year-old, who led Yorkshire from the second division to consecutive County Championship titles, is returning to his native Australia.

Yorkshire will wait to appoint the successor to Gillespie - who took over in 2011 - after the season ends.

"Jason feels the close season is an appropriate time to part company," a Yorkshire statement said.

Gillespie's wife and their four children have recently returned to Australia, where the former fast bowler also coaches the Adelaide Strikers in Australia's Big Bash Twenty20 competition.

Gillespie's last match in charge will be the Division One match against Middlesex starting on 20 September, which could decide the County Championship title.

Second-placed Yorkshire, aiming to win three titles in a row for the first time since 1968, are just five points behind Middlesex with four matches left.

Both of Yorkshire's limited-overs campaigns in 2016 ended in semi-final defeats. They lost to Durham in the T20 Blast, and on Sunday lost to Surrey in the One-Day Cup.

In May last year, Gillespie held talks with England's director of cricket Andrew Strauss over replacing the sacked Peter Moores as national coach, before the role eventually went to Australian Trevor Bayliss.

Gillespie was also linked with a coaching role with Australia earlier this summer and revealed he met head coach Darren Lehmann, but said at the time he was not offered a job and "wouldn't be applying for a role" either.

Yorkshire and England fast bowler Liam Plunkett told BBC Sport: "I'm sure it's a tough decision for him. He's a family man. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he's leaving is he wants to be with his family."