Andy Flower has ruled himself out of contention to succeed Brendon McCullum as England’s new Test head coach, following conversations with ECB managing director Rob Key.
McCullum was removed from his job with England’s red ball side last week with former Zimbabwe international Flower, who led the team to victory in the three Ashes series during his previous spell in charge between 2009 and 2014, quickly emerging as favourite to replace him.
Flower is currently in charge of Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru as well as The Hundred side London Spirit, and he cited his IPL commitments – which would overlap with the early weeks of the English cricket season – as a reason why he does not wish to be considered by England.
“Obviously that is a topic that’s being talked about at the moment,” he said. “I have spoken with the ECB. We’re all aware of the vacancy for the head coach job of the England national team.
“I have spoken with Rob and the ECB on that topic. The bottom line for me is that I’m very happy in the work that I’m doing at the moment. I work for a couple of really good organisations, I’ve got really good teams around me, really good people around me. I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing at the moment.
“I’ve worked with England before, as you all know. I had an amazing time when I had the privilege to be England head coach and represent England as one of their leaders a number of years ago. I remember those years really fondly.
“It would be a privilege for me or anyone else to be the Test coach. But for me at this time, I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing. I’m going to stick with doing that.”
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Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss who they think should replace Brendon McCullum as the England Test head coach.
Asked whether he had formally ruled himself out, he said: “I have, yes.”
He continued: “I don’t think I could have done both [jobs], especially with the IPL being held during the first couple of months of the English summer.
“If I was England Test coach I would like to be here, watching and interacting. For me, that wasn’t a possibility.
“We all like clarity. Obviously there’ll be lots of debate over who might do the head coach role. But I won’t be part of that debate. It is nice to draw a little line under that. My focus is on this job [London Spirit].”
Flower’s withdrawal means the ECB must pursue alternative target for a long-term successor to McCullum.
Former Australia coach Justin Langer and former England captain Andrew Flintoff have emerged as the stand-out names on a lengthy shortlist of would-be candidates.
England’s next Test coach options assessed
Andrew Flintoff (left), Justin Langer (centre) and Jonathan Trott are among the leading contenders to become England’s next Test coach
McCullum’s departure from the role of England Test head coach leaves the ECB with a huge gap to fill ahead of a crucial home Ashes series next summer.
McCullum took charge in the spring of 2022 and quickly restored belief in England’s Test side, winning 11 of his first 13 matches.
But a disappointing 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, followed by eight losses in the team’s last 12 Tests, brought the ‘Bazball’ era to an end and left England searching for a new red-ball coach.
A plethora of names from home and abroad have been tipped to replace him – but who is in the running?
Former Australia coach Justin Langer – who has been been in charge of Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL since July 2023 – will probably feature at the top of most lists with significant experience in English domestic cricket.
Former England captain Andrew Flintoff is the current coach of the England Lions and would be a ready-made internal promotion for the ECB and would need little handover in terms of getting to know the talent at his disposal.
Former England batter Jonathan Trott has been out of work since standing down as Afghanistan head coach earlier this year, but has significant coaching credentials after taking them to the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Peter Moore has had two previous stints as England head coach and having steered Nottinghamshire to the County Championship title last summer is arguably among the most revered domestic coaches, but a third stint seems a long shot.
Surrey’s head coach Gareth Batty could also be thrown into the ring in the same bracket, after the former having overseen a flurry of championship titles in recent years.
Mickey Arthur has bags of experience of experience at international level having coached his native South Africa as well as Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka over the past 20 years, and is currently into a fifth year at Derbyshire.
Former Australia batter and head coach Darren Lehmann falls into the same bracket as the current coach of Northamptonshire, but feels an unlikely appointment given his role in the sandpaper scandal that saw Steve Smith stripped of his Test captaincy.
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