By Zim Sport Live Writer
Zimbabwe cricket legend Andy Flower has emerged as the strong favourite to take over England’s Test team after Brendon McCullum was sacked just five weeks before the start of the next series against Pakistan.
McCullum will continue to lead England’s white-ball teams until his contract is up at the end of next year but he has been relieved of his duties with the Test team just two weeks after England lost their first series of the summer against New Zealand.
Flower is the England & Wales Cricket Board’s No1 choice to take over the Test team ahead of next year’s home Ashes series. He has also been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite.
Multiple reports in England have revealed the ECB are prepared to break the bank to get Flower, with insiders saying they are going “all out” to land the man who led England to their last away Ashes series win in Australia in 2010-11.
Flower would be a compelling pick to lead the team just 11 months before the start of another series against the Australians.
He led England to No 1 in the world in Test cricket in 2011 and was a fearsome and effective head coach in his first stint in the job between 2009 and 2014 – when he won the Ashes three times and led the team to landmark series wins in Australia and India.
The biggest stumbling block to landing Flower is his extensive list of lucrative franchise coaching jobs. He has just finished a three-year contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and is likely to be offered a new deal.
However, the end of that deal does offer Flower room to negotiate taking on the England job with his IPL employers.
If Flower turns down the job, other leading contenders would be former Australia coach Justin Langer, England Lions coach Andrew Flintoff, former captain Eoin Morgan and Surrey coach Gareth Batty.