Fleming is a five-time IPL-winning coach with CSK, and has also coached their sister franchises in the SA20 and MLC. He has occasionally worked with New Zealand as a consultant coach on a short-term basis and has extensive experience within English cricket after spells with Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire as a player and Southern Brave as a coach.
With McCullum still in post as England’s white-ball coach, at least until his contract expires at the end of next year, Fleming’s dynamic with his former New Zealand team-mate will be an important consideration. Fleming and McCullum are close friends, and have also shared business interests together.
It is not yet clear whether Fleming will take charge in time for England’s Test series against Pakistan, which starts on August 19 at Headingley. The ECB’s primary focus is on ensuring that they have the right candidate in place to help England beat Australia in next summer’s Ashes series, and they are prepared to wait if necessary.
England will play ten Tests before the start of that series: three against Pakistan (August-September), three in South Africa (December-January), two in Bangladesh (February), the 150th anniversary Test in Melbourne (March) and one at home to Bangladesh (May). They have explicitly targeted the series, having last won the Ashes in 2015.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald speculated this week that England’s new coach could yet convince Stokes to reverse his decision. “The fairytale would be that he comes back out of retirement and takes on one more Ashes, and builds a lot of hype on the way in,” McDonald told SEN. “To me, he’s still got a lot of good cricket left in him.”
The ECB may yet find a role for either Dawson or Trott in the England set-up. Dawson has impressed England’s management since taking over at Glamorgan, where he is under contract until the end of the 2028 season, and previously worked as an assistant coach to Matthew Mott in white-ball cricket. Trott is a free agent after leaving his role with Afghanistan.
