London: England is closing in on hiring a new coach for their national team. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday it is in exclusive negotiations with its preferred candidate, who is widely reported in the British and Australian media to be Trevor Bayliss.
Bayliss, a 52-year-old Australian who has never played international cricket, is a former coach of Sri Lanka and led the team to the World Cup final in 2011. He has also coached New South Wales in Australian domestic cricket and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
“If Trevor Bayliss is the new coach of England, then England are very lucky,” Australia great Shane Warne said on Twitter. Speaking as a pundit on British broadcaster Sky Sports, Warne described Bayliss as a “background coach” who “plays cricket in the right way.”
Paul Farbrace, England’s temporary coach following the firing of Peter Moores two weeks ago, was the No. 2 to Bayliss with Sri Lanka.
Another Australian, Jason Gillespie, was widely considered the front-runner for the vacant role after his impressive work at English county side Yorkshire and has held two rounds of talks with Andrew Strauss, England’s recently appointed director of cricket.
Gillespie told the BBC that he had spoken to Strauss again on Monday. “He said they’ve got a preferred candidate they’re speaking to,” Gillespie said. “That’s absolutely fine, no worries at all.”
One of the priorities of the new England regime under Strauss is to improve the fortunes of the limited-overs teams, perhaps the reason why the ECB is reportedly turning to Bayliss.
The latest Ashes series starts on July 8, and would pit Bayliss against his native country.
