Why English cricket is failing to produce coaches

Stephen Fleming's appointment as England Test head coach continues the overseas domination of the job. Since the Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher was appointed in 1999, Englishmen have led the Test side for only five out of 27 years.

There is a simple reason why England tend to appoint foreign coaches: the side perform better when an Englishman is not in charge. Only two Englishmen have been appointed to the Test head coach role this century: Peter Moores, twice, and Chris Silverwood. On all three occasions, the men arrived with stellar domestic records and intimate knowledge of the English game.

Yet such credentials were insufficient. Moores was sacked 18 months into his first stint, and just a year into his second. Silverwood lasted a little over two years before being sacked after a run of one win in his last 14 Tests. When Ashley Giles was white-ball head coach, his tenure ended when England crashed out of the 2014 T20 World Cup before the knockout stages, culminating in defeat by the Netherlands.

This century, England have won 23 Tests, and lost 24, with a homegrown coach. With overseas coaches, England have won 126 and lost 91: a win-loss ratio of 1.38, compared with 0.96 when an Englishman is in charge. The difference is even starker considering that Silverwood is the only Englishman to have been trusted to lead an Ashes campaign; England lost that series, in 2021-22, 4-0.

In choosing between Fleming and Richard Dawson, England were effectively deciding between a coach used to being watched by millions around the world, or one leading a side in front of crowds that are often shy of four figures. This contrast far outweighed Fleming's lack of experience coaching in first-class cricket.

Other countries use their franchise tournaments to promote homegrown coaching talent. Five of the eight coaches in the last Big Bash were Australian; three of the six coaches in the last SA20 were South African, even with all sides affiliated to Indian Premier League ownership groups.

Yet this path has largely been closed off to Englishmen. In six years of the competition, just three Englishmen have been a head coach in the Hundred. This season, just one Englishman is a head coach; that man, Moores, will not have a third stint with his country.

When the Hundred launched in 2021, no coaches were English. Paul Farbrace, who was England assistant coach from 2015-19, was consulted on the rules and regulations for the Hundred. He recalls urging that four of the eight head coaches of the men's team should be English.

"I said: 'This is an opportunity for us to put English coaches in with some of the best players in the world and allow them to develop their coaching skills and experience and put them in for the chance of being head coach of the England cricket team,' " Farbrace recalls. "And I was shouted down.

"One of the guys in the ECB at the time said: 'Oh, I couldn't name you four who were capable of doing the job.'

"If, in our own competition in England, we're not appointing head coaches to the roles and we're bringing in overseas coaches from all over the place, then I just find that quite disappointing for the English game."

The England & Wales Cricket Board cannot change tack. After welcoming private investment, the ECB no longer has any control at all over who is appointed to Hundred franchises.

Foreign teams are no more receptive to Englishmen. In the last decade, only two English coaches - Chris Silverwood, with Sri Lanka; and Jonathan Trott, with Afghanistan - have led an overseas Test side. Damningly, in 18 years of the competition, no Englishman has been an IPL head coach.

The contrast with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa is chastening. Despite their population of five million, New Zealand's current coaches include Mike Hesson, who oversaw the country's rise after 2013 and is now Pakistan head coach, Dan Vettori, a respected franchise coach who was Australia's assistant coach, Brendon McCullum, who initially reinvigorated England, and Fleming, the most successful IPL coach in history.

Vettori, McCullum and Fleming all captained New Zealand for extended periods. In English cricket, such figures seldom go into coaching. Instead, for wholly understandable financial reasons, former captains tend to gravitate towards the media. The economic clout of Sky Sports and other broadcasters means that English cricket hears from many leading minds, rather than being led by them.

Rob Key, England's director of men's cricket, has sought to accelerate the transition of ex-players into coaching. A series of prominent former players, including Andrew Flintoff, Graeme Swann and Moeen Ali, have been involved with England's pathway in recent years.

Without being able to mandate that more Hundred teams appoint Englishmen, Farbrace urges that more English coaches join the national coaching staff. Silverwood was appointed as England bowling coach in 2017, paving the way for him to succeed Trevor Bayliss as head coach, even though the man considered the outstanding candidate was South Africa's Charl Langeveldt.

Yet, even for the best players, reaching the pinnacle of coaching requires patience. A model coaching career, Moeen agrees, is that of Rahul Dravid. The Indian great shared his technical expertise with young players during stints as head coach of India U-19s and India A, before then stepping up to be India coach, working with many of the same players that he had nurtured before.

Arrigo Sacchi, the great Italian football manager, said that elite coaching should be open to anyone from elevator operators to stockbrokers. Hesson never even played a first-class match before pursuing coaching.

English cricket would be far less receptive to a coach with such a background, believes Gareth Batty. Batty enjoyed a fine first-class career, and won nine Test caps, before assuming his role as Surrey head coach. Working with Surrey's coterie of international talent, Batty is currently bidding to win his fourth County Championship title in five seasons; he is also assistant coach with Mumbai Indians London in the Hundred.

These credentials should make him a compelling candidate to lead the Test side, especially in an era when so few leading coaches work in first-class cricket. Yet Batty has not even had any contact with the England set-up about assisting the Lions, let alone applying for the Test job before Fleming's appointment.

"The fact is that you can have success and it still not be talked about particularly nationally for you - it's just the way it is," Batty says. "I've not had anybody showing an interest in me getting involved in any England stuff, pathway stuff.

"You're doubling your hours for being a player, probably. I think that's the first step: understanding, identifying the ones who want that graft, embrace the graft, and can actually be part of a system moving forward. I don't see that in place.

"I think coaching is very different to playing, and I personally believe it's a very different career. And red-ball cricket is something that people are not involved in lots of at the minute."

Optically, England might have benefited from choosing a homegrown coach to replace McCullum. To his credit, Key has avoided such expediency.

Fleming's appointment is a tacit acceptance that the best man for the job is still not English. It will be a damning indictment of the national system if, when the role of Test head coach is next vacant, once again no Englishman is considered suitable.

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