Former South Africa batter Gary Kirsten said that coaching England in the longest format would be a huge honour for him. However, Kirsten made it clear that he can’t commit to all the formats.
The 54-old South Africa opener previously coached India and South Africa and took them to no.1 ranking in Test cricket. And as England cricket fraternity is asking Chris Silverwood to step down from the role, Gary Kirsten showed his interest to work on this project.
“I’ve walked this journey twice now (when England recruited new coaches in 2015 and 2019) and I’ve always made it clear that I would never commit to doing all formats,” Kirsten said in an interview with I News.
“And when international cricket boards get their head around the fact that they need to split coaching roles, then it becomes a consideration,” he added.
England won the ODI World Cup in 2019 under the coaching of Trevor Bayliss but their form in the oldest form has been a big issue for a while. In this home season, they lost both home series against New Zealand and India.
“Listen, the England ODI side is set up, you’re the best ODI side in the world at the moment. It’s a project that has been well thought out, you’ve got consistency in the players that have been picked,” he said.
“Your Test side has battled for a while but it would be a really lovely project to get that going,” he said.
England’s next Test assignment will be a 3-match series in West Indies.
Meanwhile, former players have put their opinions with or against current coach Chris Silverwood. Former England coach Trevor Bayliss believes that there is no need to make him scapegoat while former England opener Nick Compton believes that Gary Kirsten is the right candidate to take the England test team forward.
“I would make a change now, I think Silverwood is a good man and did the best he can. Kirsten would be the right person. He understands top-level batting, he’s been there in a consistent fashion.” Compton told Sky Sports News.