Andrew Strauss: "The Hundred was a great opportunity for some English coaches to be appointed"

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: So far five of the eight regional franchises have named the men who will take charge. All five are from overseas. It is expected that coaches from outside the UK will be recruited to head up the remaining three operations

Andrew Strauss believes The Hundred represents a major opportunity for English coaches to be promoted to the top of the sport.

The divisive competition is due to launch in 2020, with the inaugural draft scheduled for October 20, and so far five of the eight regional franchises have named the men who will take charge. All five are from overseas.

Simon Katich has been brought in by the Manchester-based side, Gary Kirsten takes the reins in Cardiff, Shane Warne will lead the team located at Lord’s, Andrew McDonald heads the setup in Birmingham and Tom Moody will take charge at The Oval.

It is widely expected that coaches from outside England and Wales will be recruited to head up the remaining three operations, with Mahela Jayawardene linked with the Southampton franchise.

The teams in question will have been swayed by the abundance of short-form coaching experience on the CVs of their respective hires, and Strauss says Englishmen and women need to be given the opportunity to get similar experience under their belts.

“Personally, I think that was a great opportunity for some English coaches to be appointed,” the former managing director of England men’s cricket said.

“Some of those teams will have their reasons for appointing an experienced coach who has coaching in T20 cricket elsewhere in the world. You can completely understand that.

“There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation in terms of unless English coaches get the opportunity, how can they get the experience.

“We’ve always got to look for opportunities for our English coaches to get more experience than just doing county coaching gigs. They need to do more than that if they’re going to be viable candidates for England jobs going forward.”

Strauss’s comments come at a time when England are also searching for a successor to men’s head coach Trevor Bayliss, who will leave his role at the end of the Ashes.

Mickey Arthur, Alec Stewart and Ottis Gibson have all been mentioned as possible replacements. While Strauss has the name of his preferred candidates in his head, he was not about to share their identities. 

“I think there are a few. I wouldn’t want to name names at the moment,” he said. 

“I always think it’s a nice thing if we’ve got some English candidates there to choose from. I’m not saying I’d definitely pick them but over the years we haven’t had enough candidates, and that’s a problem for the game.”

^{Andrew Strauss played a key role in appointing Trevor Bayliss as England coach}

Strauss’s successor as director of men’s cricket, Ashley Giles, favours a single coach overseeing all aspects of the side - from Test to T20 cricket - with assistants able to take charge of the team occasionally during the hectic calendar.

Strauss roughly agrees with the formula.

“I personally don’t think it’s sustainable for the same coaching team to do everything,” he said.

“Whether it’s a coach or assistant coaches, you need people to be able to come and go because it’s just too much. You cannot prepare and play at the same time. If you’re playing one series, you need someone who’s preparing for the next series which is coming along in a couple of weeks.

“It’s very hard to do that with the same coaching team.”

Four years ago it was Strauss who was tasked with finding a new coach for the England team. Tapping into that experience, his advice for Giles is simple. 

“If I was in Ashley’s shoes right now, I’d be asking myself the question ‘what does the England team need going forward?’

“I think there are some very good candidates. He’s got to go through that interview process, he’s got to get to know and understand these people, and he’s got to do due diligence - speaking to people who have played under these coaches - to get a feel of how they’ll settle into this England environment.

“The coaching is one things, the dealing with the media is another, the dealing with the pressure of a high-intensity series - all of these things play in just as much as your ability to coach 11 players.”

Strauss has made himself available to Giles should he wish to call on his counsel over the course of the recruitment process, and it is expected that the ECB will announce a formal role for the former skipper in due course.

In the meantime, though, he is busy promoting the work of the Ruth Strauss Foundation - set up in memory of his late wife - and making appearances as an analyst on Sky Sports.

He is certainly not done with cricket, that’s for sure.

To support the Ruth Strauss Foundation, Eoin Morgan has donated his match-worn World Cup final shirt, signed by the entire winning team. You can bid to own the shirt Eoin wore when he lifted the World Cup at Lord’s in a truly unforgettable final. Visit ruthstraussfoundation.com to bid.

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