Managing director
It is obviously a shame, but entirely understandable, that Sir Andrew Strauss, the ECB’s interim managing director of men’s cricket, does not feel able to commit because of his family situation. A shame, too, that our own Michael Atherton (not trying to get rid of you, Athers, honest!) and his great friend Nasser Hussain are rather too good at their present jobs and cannot be tempted.
Simon Timson, the Manchester City performance director and once the head of the ECB’s development programme, might have been an interesting person to approach.
But this is the appointment the ECB simply must get right, because all the other decisions and changes will flow down from this person. Sadly, Ashley Giles made some mistakes — particularly appointing Chris Silverwood as the head coach and compounding that error by asking him to pick the team after sacking Ed Smith, the national selector — that were always going to make his life difficult thereafter.
It is essential to get the right people in the right places, but the problem is that this is a post like no other — even being a director of cricket at a county is vastly different — so choosing a candidate is tricky. They need to select the right coaches and captain, and then, having been part of Strauss’s review into “high performance”, turn considerable attention to the domestic game and its coaching, right down to the grassroots.
There is much to do in terms of the County Championship producing the requisite standard of player, but it is the level between that and Test cricket that really needs addressing too. Look at how New Zealand and India have prospered through the success of their A teams. The Lions set-up urgently needs looking at, and it is never a simple task, because home fixtures mean that many counties moan when their players are selected.
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Rob Key, Marcus North, Ed Smith and Mark Nicholas are names being bandied around as interviewees this week, and doubtless all have their different strengths and weaknesses, but it is so tough to know who is best suited. Whoever provides the clearest vision and choices (and not the slickest PowerPoint presentation) should get the job.
Head coach
I would go for Gary Kirsten as Test coach, with Paul Collingwood as his assistant and white-ball coach. It is always difficult for an English head coach because of the politics of the county game and their natural long-standing immersion in them, but I cannot see Justin Langer being the right man, although Ricky Ponting would certainly be worth talking to.
National selector
This is a post that must be reinstated because, as was pointedly proved in Australia, you need some objectivity when decisions are being made. What’s more, if someone such as Kirsten is appointed as head coach, his knowledge of players in the county game, even though he was with Welsh Fire in the Hundred last year, will be limited.
What about Andy Flower? He, of course, could be a candidate for the other two roles already mentioned (although the phrase “never go back”, especially after Peter Moores’s second stint, probably prevents him being head coach again). Flower did, though, apply for the job that Smith got, and it was something of a surprise that he was not appointed then. One downside is that Flower has a lot of T20 franchise contracts.
Captain
Going against the tide of public opinion and many former England captains, I would stick with Joe Root. Ben Stokes is the only credible alternative and I’m not sure he wants it, or that it would be good for him to have it. With all this change, some continuity is necessary. The new managing director must ensure that England never arrive at this position again, but it is never easy to develop new leaders when they are on central contracts and cannot captain their counties.
