Sudbury Cricket Club have pulled off a coup with the signing of new Suffolk skipper Tom Huggins.

The 31-year-old has decided to leave Bury St Edmunds after nine seasons and join Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Division One side Sudbury next season, as their senior coach.

Huggins, who has just been appointed as Suffolk’s new Minor Counties captain, has played for the Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League club since moving to the county following his release by Northamptonshire in 2005.

But he is now seeking a new challenge and has agreed to join the Friars Street club and, although he will not captain the 1st XI, he will be involved in all aspects of the club’s coaching, in particular working with the juniors and the development of the young players already in the county squad.

Huggins said: “I see Sudbury as a club with a vision.

“They have had a taste of the Premier League, and the challenge of actually building a side and working with them throughout the year appeals to me.

“It is not a one-year plan, it is a three-year plan to get the club back into the Premier League and establish ourselves in the league.”

The all-rounder, who lives in Sudbury, continued: “Bury St Edmunds will always be my ‘home’ club. Kevin Brooks got me to go there nine years ago, which was a hard decision for me to make back then.

“I owe so much to Kevin, (president) David Barker and (chairman) Paul Whittaker, but I felt I need a new challenge and the timing just felt right for me to move on.

“I believe it will be for the best for Bury St Edmunds to get someone with fresh ideas in because I have been embedded in the same culture for nine years, and I think I am too close to the club to make the changes which I believe the club needs.

“I am desperately disappointed to leave the club, but, because I love the club, if there is anything I can do to assist them in the future I will.

“It has genuinely been one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. It is not about money – I would like to think I am a loyal person – and Bury St Edmunds have been very good to me, but this challenge has got me going.

“I have loved playing with the lads at Bury St Edmunds and enjoyed captaining the club, but now I want to do something different where I feel I can make a difference, and I feel I can do that at Sudbury.”

Sudbury CC chairman Roger Troughton said of Huggins appointment: “It’s fantastic news. Tom is one of a handful of level 4 coaches in the country and we are proud to have him as our senior coach here at Sudbury.

“Tom is keen to develop his coaching and sees this as an ideal opportunity to do this.

“Sudbury are keen to get back into the East Anglian Premier League, also to get all of their league sides playing at the highest level.

“Having Tom with us will give us the best opportunity to do this, particularly bringing on the wealth of young players we have at the club.”