England are looking for a new head coach to succeed Chris Silverwood.
Silverwood left the role following this winter’s Ashes mauling and the top priority of England’s new managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key will be filling the post ahead of this summer’s home Test series against New Zealand.
Here we take a look at some of the possible contenders for the head coach position.
Simon Katich
The former Australia batter comes with a range of experience in different formats on his CV, which could prove handy if red and white ball coaching duties are split. Katich played international cricket for nine years and has plenty of knowledge of the English county circuit having represented Durham, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire during his career. The 46-year-old also has coaching experience in the Indian Premier League as an assistant at Kolkata Knight Riders and head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, as well as taking charge of the Manchester Originals men’s team in the inaugural Hundred.
Graham Ford
Ford already has previous experience working with Key having been director of cricket at Kent where Key was captain. The South African, 61, had two spells as Sri Lanka head coach either side of a stint at Surrey before, in 2017, taking charge of Ireland. Ford oversaw 102 internationals with Ireland and led them in their first-ever Test match against Pakistan in 2018 stepping down from the post last November.
Gary Kirsten
Kirsten scored over 14,000 runs for South Africa and he has enjoyed notable success since becoming a coach as well. He led India to World Cup glory in 2011 before returning to the Proteas and helping them reach the top of the world Test rankings the following year. Kirsten has previously expressed an interest in the England role and had interviewed for it before being leapfrogged by Silverwood. More recently the 54-year-old was appointed batting coach at IPL franchise Gujarat Titans and is set to coach Welsh Fire in this year’s Hundred.
Paul Collingwood
Collingwood already has some experience in the position after being appointed interim head coach for England’s Test tour of the West Indies earlier this year, which they lost 1-0. The former Durham all-rounder, 45, is no stranger to success with his country either, captaining England to their first global trophy with victory at the 2010 World T20 and playing a part in three Ashes series triumphs. Before becoming England’s interim coach, Collingwood was an assistant under Silverwood and also took charge of the T20 Caribbean tour in January.
Justin Langer
Langer, 51, has been mentioned as a possible England candidate since stepping down as Australia coach in February. He took the job in the midst of the Australian ball-tampering scandal in 2018 and had enjoyed multi-format success with the side in the last six months, guiding them to the World T20 title before retaining the Ashes with a comprehensive 4-0 win on home turf. As a player, the prolific left-hander made 105 Test appearances opening the batting for Australia and had county stints with Middlesex and Somerset.
Stephen Fleming
During a glittering 14-year international playing career for New Zealand, Fleming became the first Kiwi to pass 7,000 Test runs, doing so in his final series against England in 2008. The 49-year-old former Black Caps skipper, who had stints as an overseas player at Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Middlesex, has also built up coaching experience with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, where he has been since 2009 and is the most successful coach in the tournament’s history with four titles.
