Less than a month after an embarrassing 4-0 Ashes defeat, the England and Wales Cricket Board and Chris Silverwood have taken the decision to part ways and the search for a new head coach has begun.
Silverwood’s record has not been the best and has seen England win only one of their last 14 test matches, as well as defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-final at the hands of New Zealand.
We’ve taken a look at who could come in to lead England back to their glory days.
5 – Paul Collingwood
A man who knows a thing or two about winning all sorts of things with England.
Paul Collingwood had a stellar England career playing 68 test matches with a batting average of 40.56 as well as 197 One Day Internationals and 36 T20 internationals, including his spell as captain for the T20 World Cup win in 2010.
Recently he’s been involved as fielding coach for the England team, not particularly surprising when you look back at some of the superb catches throughout his career and could well take temporary charge of the side in the West Indies having survived the post Ashes cull.
Unlike the others mentioned throughout this list, Collingwood doesn’t have much experience as a head coach but has spent plenty of time in the England set-up and could provide an easy transition from Silverwood.
There’s a sense that if the job doesn’t come the way of the Durham man this time, we will see him linked with the post every time it becomes available again.
4 – Richard Dawson
There may be a bit of local bias in this selection, but the ex-Gloucestershire coach seems an ideal fit for the England set-up and has had success across the formats at county level.
Having enjoyed a good playing career including seven test matches, Dawson won the 2015 Royal London One Day Cup with Gloucestershire and in 2019 won promotion back to Division One of the County Championship.
In 2019 the Yorkshireman was chosen to lead the England Lions tour down under and since 2021 he has been the ECB’s Elite Performance Pathway Coach, working with the younger players and nurture the young talent.
Like Collingwood, he’s already embedded within the ECB machine and would therefore be able to allow for a smooth transition but that may also push Dawson out of favour as a top to bottom change has been suggested.
3 – Justin Langer
It may seem strange to suggest the current head coach of the Australian side, but there seems to be tension between Cricket Australia and Langer despite their recent Ashes and limited overs success.
Further talks are planned between Cricket Australia and Langer over the coming days, but it seems to be that Langer is heading towards the exit door and England could allow him an immediate return to the highest level of cricket.
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The situation this England side find themselves in isn’t too different to the one that Australia were in when Langer took charge after sandpaper gate, he’s turned them into a double Ashes winning side.
The barrier between the two great rivals has been crossed before, most recently by Trevor Bayliss who enjoyed success as England coach including the 2019 World Cup and even guiding the Three Lions to an underdog Ashes victory in 2015.
2 – Alec Stewart
Alec Stewart has thrown his own hat into the ring in recent days to be the interim coach as England take on the West Indies for March’s upcoming Test Series.
It seems to be a perfect fit, as a player Stewart was a wicket-keeper batsman who played 133 test matches constantly being taken in and out of the side as he competed with Gloucestershire legend Jack Russell before a short spell as captain followed.
Now he’s Director of Cricket at Surrey and has been since 2013, and has overseen the county produce a number of players that have become England regulars such as Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and limited overs specialist Jason Roy.
Stewart may not be the person to lead as a coach for the long-term having not been the main first team coach for a fair few years but would make sense as a temporary appointment with a view to moving upstairs in the future.
1 – Gary Kirsten
Like Stewart, Gary Kirsten has thrown has volunteered his services to England, but on a more temporary basis, but was criticised for stating his interest while the then incumbent Silverwood was suffering with Covid-19.
Kirsten like most on this list had a stellar playing career averaging 45.27 across his 101 test matches and since retiring has coached both India and South Africa on an international level, as well as Royal Challenges Bangalore and the Hobart Hurricanes in franchise cricket.
He took India to the number one test side in the world and won the World Cup in 2011 and while he couldn’t repeat the limited overs success in his home country he did establish the Proteas as the number one ranked test team.
Kirsten was interviewed for the position when Silverwood was appointed in 2019, with the ECB almost admitting that Silverwood hasn’t worked out they may well attempt to right their wrongs and return to Kirsten.
