Paul Collingwood has emerged as a dark horse in the race of England’s coaching job.
Till yesterday, the name of Jason Gillespie was doing the rounds, but, after he concerns that it might not be a right thing to put an Aussie at helm for an emotional series like the Ashes, Collingwood’s name has come into the frame.
Collingwood might be very young for the post of the head coach of a test team, but, he has worked a little bit with the associate nations.
He was there in Australia-New Zealand as the coach of the Scotland National team during the World Cup.
So, he is not completely a nuisance in terms of coaching.
Collingwood was a successful captain as well for England especially in limited-over Cricket. He is said to have been blessed with a very astute Cricketing brain and these days, most of the teams are looking for coaches who finished their playing careers recently.
Somebody who played his Cricket in the eighties or the nineties might not know that much about the modern day Cricket because the game has changed so much.
So, that is a reason why Collingwood might be the best choice, but, the problem is that the veteran all rounder is still playing a bit of County Cricket and recently, he hinted that he would not mind playing for another 2-3 years.
If England has to lure him, it would take a big offer.
The England Cricket Board would come up with a name in two weeks’ time. In the meanwhile, an interim coach has been appointed in the form of Paul Farbrace.
Gillespie’s appointment actually might not turn out to be as good as it is expected given his Aussie nationality. But, he is the strongest contender at this point in time.
The new director Andrew Strauss has the complete authority to take the final call.