Pierre de Bruyn leaves role as Leicestershire head coach

Leicestershire are bottom of Division Two after 11 matches this season

Leicestershire head coach Pierre de Bruyn has left the Division Two club after one year in the role.

The 40-year-old South African has overseen 11 County Championship matches without a win this term, losing six.

Graeme Welch and John Sadler have been placed in interim charge of the side until the end of the 2017 season.

"It has been quite a testing season for Pierre, his first real head coach role," Foxes chief executive Wasim Kham told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We were hoping things would've been better and the situation different, but there was a real understanding on both sides.

"Sometimes things can't wait until the end of the season and it would've been wrong just to keep the season dragging out.

"It was important to acknowledge it rather than wait until the end of the season."

Under De Bruyn, Leicestershire reached the T20 Blast quarter-finals, before a comprehensive loss to Glamorgan, and finished sixth in the One-Day Cup North Group, with three wins in eight games.

He had been promoted from his position as assistant skills coach, having initially joined the club before the start of the 2016 season.

De Bruyn added: "I would like to thank the board of directors for the great opportunity to become head coach of Leicestershire. It has been a fantastic experience.

"I have enjoyed my time here. I wish the club the best for the future and I am now looking forward to the next challenge in my career."

Analysis

Richard Rae, BBC Radio Leicester

Leicestershire had hoped De Bruyn, who worked under previous head coach Andrew McDonald in 2016, would continue the progress made under the Australian. Leicestershire won four Championship matches last season.

The two are very different characters, however and the abrasive South African was quickly at loggerheads with a number of players.

Opener Angus Robson left before the season had even begun, veteran seamer Charlie Shreck retired rather than work with De Bruyn - though it was claimed injury was the prime mover for Shreck's decision - and there were suggestions six or more players would leave at the end of the season if De Bruyn stayed in his job.

Matters came to a head on the final day of the Championship match against Kent at Canterbury last Thursday. After the entire third day was lost to rain, Kent, needing to win to maintain their promotion challenge, made it clear they would be prepared to try and chase a tough target set up by declaration bowling.

Although it was Leicestershire's only realistic chance of winning the game and the players were keen, de Bruyn declined to participate. Foxes captain Mark Cosgrove smashed 34 off just 19 balls, an innings he admitted had been born of "frustration".