From Mott to Trott? England's new coaching candidates pose dilemma | England Cricket Team

IIt is two years since Brendon McCullum, recently appointed coach of the England Test team, said that he had chosen that job over a similar job with the white-ball team because the team flies in limited-overs cricket and I was not interested in a comfortable job. Now that the position is vacant again following the sacking of Matthew Mott, it is safe to say that no one will reject him this time for similar reasons.

The team is underperforming, ageing and in need of a major overhaul. The good news is that this is as close as any team can get to the ideal moment: after three World Cups in less than two years, there is now a gap when the only international tournament is the Champions Trophy, a second-tier event to be played in Pakistan in early 2025, before three World Cups and the return of the Olympics are forced into two-and-a-half years between February 2026 and October 2028.

The good news for the new coach is that England's strongest team can take on any team in the world. The bad news is that he may never be able to nominate the team.

In recent years, England’s fixtures have gone from packed to bizarre: expect two days of training before each Test, one day before each match, a day of recovery after each match, plus a day for any international flight or change of domestic venue. In the 123 days between the start of their next match and the end of their tour of New Zealand in December, they have 142 teams at work.

The idea of ​​McCullum taking over the white-ball side without leaving the Test team, as suggested last week by former captain Eoin Morgan, dies at the first touch of the schedule. We can’t field our best team, Mott said last year. We’ve just got to find a way to compete.

The role that England and Wales Cricket Boards managing director of men's cricket, Rob Key, is now trying to fill comes with many dilemmas and compromises. It also pays less than a head coaching job in the IPL, which involves around two months of work a year.

So it may be hard to tempt Kumar Sangakkara, the affable Sri Lankan who coaches Jos Buttler’s IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals. But he now lives in Dorset, has a good relationship with the captain and will undoubtedly be sounded out.

Other excellent and easily found overseas candidates include Stephen Fleming, like Sangakkara an experienced and acclaimed IPL head coach who is in the Hundred with Southern Brave, and New Zealand batting coach at Chennai Super Kings, Mike Hussey, who has worked with Buttler on a few occasions, most recently at the 2022 T20 World Cup and with Welsh Fire.

Meanwhile, at Northern Superchargers, in his first senior coaching role, the bookies’ favourite is Andrew Flintoff, who was described by Key in March as a worthy candidate who anyone in his position would be foolish not to consider. But the 46-year-old would be a ridiculous appointment in many ways: he is charismatic and the players clearly enjoy having him around, but his lack of coaching experience, his close friendship with Key and his association with the ECB chairman, Richard Thompson, who is also chairman of the agency that represents him, should put paid to his prospects.

If an English manager is wanted, James Foster has the better credentials: he is two years younger and far more experienced. However, Flintoff only got his job at the Hundred Division because the team wanted a new face, having finished last under Foster.

Morgan is a natural leader who has led England through a successful renewal process before, but has said that the timing is not right for his return and he is certainly right, he also lacks coaching experience and, having led most of them to victory in the 2019 World Cup, is too close to the players who will now be left behind. Bad timing could also eliminate Rahul Dravid, given that it is less than a month after he stepped down as India's head coach. On the other hand, this may be the ideal time for Jonathan Trott, the head coach of Afghanistan, who is known to covet the role and whose star is on the rise.

Last year he described his career plan as hopefully having a really, really good World Cup and then seeing what the options are. Since then he and Afghanistan have had two great World Cups, beating England in one. Trott's contract expires in December, although he has just agreed to manage Pretoria Capitals in January's SA20 and is considered an outsider in the race.

Then there is Marcus Trescothick, the interim coach, whose only virtue is the office. Should Key fail to attract the first few names on his list, and England get a few good results when they face Australia next month, there will surely be a temptation to just let it happen.

Key's job, however, is to look beyond the easy solutions: if England are struggling to get their best team on the field, they need their best team off it.