The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is on the hunt for a new Test coach for its men’s team after sacking Brendon McCullum from the role following the conclusion of the Test series against New Zealand, which England lost 2-1.
Several local and foreign names have emerged in the fray, with speculation rife about a few giants of the game.
One man, though, whose name was associated in large swathes, has already pulled himself out of contention. Andy Flower, who is the coach of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has confirmed that while he had talks with the England men’s managing director Rob Key, he is “very happy in the work that I’m doing at the moment,” which is overseeing RCB in the IPL and London Spirit in the Hundred.
When is England’s next Test series?
England’s next Test begins on August 19 against Pakistan at home. The ECB is in talks with candidates to become the new England Test coach. There is also a possibility that an interim coach could be hired for the series against Pakistan as the series after that will be in December in South Africa, giving the ECB lots of time to chart out the identity and tenure of the new Test coach.
Justin Langer Emerges Frontrunner To Become New England Test Coach
Several greats of previous years are said to be in contention to become the new England Test coach, including Marcus Trescothick; Stephen Fleming, who recently parted ways with CSK; Richard Dawson, Jonathan Trott, Mike Hesson, Tom Moody; and Kumar Sangakkara.
However, the frontrunner for the role is Justin Langer, the legendary Australian opener and a former teammate of Ricky Ponting’s.
Langer is currently the head coach of the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL and the Manchester Super Giants, a sister franchise of LSG in The Hundred.
Langer’s pedigree as a coach was established during his tenure as Australia’s all-format coach. He took over as Australia’s coach in 2018 from Darren Lehmann following the Sandpaper Gate fiasco.
Under Langer, Australia retained the Ashes in England in 2019, won the T20 World Cup 2021, and hammered England 4-0 at home in the 2021/22 Ashes.
His exit, though, from the Australian setup was controversial, as players were reported to have expressed displeasure at some of Langer’s coaching methods, and he reportedly had a fallout with senior players.
The 55-year-old Australian could be tempted to take over the role of England Test coach. Further, Langer could be allowed a hybrid role, that is, to continue with LSG in the IPL.
Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, has already hinted at the possibility of considering allowing their coach a job elsewhere as well.
Gould said, “We need to be progressive in these issues. We’ve got players trying to balance between county, franchise, international cricket. It’s a really busy calendar. We may well have to do the same with our coaching staff and supporting staff; we already do, to an extent. But I think that is something that we will have to have a look at.”
Who is the new England Test captain?
Further, England are also yet to officially announce their new Test captain after Ben Stokes’ retirement, although anyone except Harry Brook getting the position would be a shocker.
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