The post for the England’s bowling coach went up for grabs when Ottis Gibson decided to step down to be the South African head coach, in August.
Former English cricketer Graeme Welch is the front runner to be appointed as the next Bowling coach of the England team. Welch has played 171 first class match picking up 477 wickets at an average of 31.51.
Graeme is currently the bowling coach of English County side, Leicestershire and will be with the England national team in the fourth ODI of upcoming five-match ODI series against West Indies. Welch is most likely to stay with the team for the entire match.
Leicestershire Chief Executive Wasim Khan had a word with England assistant coach Paul Fabrace regarding Welch’s appointment as the coach of the bowling department for the fourth ODI and Khan said he had no issues with Welch joining the national team during the season.
Khan said,
“This is a great opportunity for Graeme. He is proving an excellent coach, and we wouldn’t want to stand in his way,”
Welch had also confirmed to Khan that he would not be applying for the post of the head coach of Leicestershire after the departure of Pierre de Bruyn.
England is preparing for a five-match ODI series against West Indies starting 19th September. They’ll also play a sole T20 international before the commencement of the ODI series on 16th September. It will be England’s final series before the Ashes which will begin on 23rd November.
England won the Test series 2-1 against a young West Indian side which showed great character in the series. This win did not come as easy as it seemed, as the Windies won the second Test at Headingley, chasing 322 to win. England will be hoping to get their balance among the players and staff stable before the Ashes begins in November.