Veteran coach Andy Flower has said no to England Test role, after a series of conversations with the ECB, as per Cricinfo. It seems, that Flower had discussions with ECB MD Rob Key as well, but things did not fall into place eventually. Instead, he will continue to the head coach of RCB in IPL and London Spirit in The Hundred.
Andy Flower chooses RCB over England
“The bottom line for me is that I’m very happy in the work that I’m doing at the moment… I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing,” Flower said at Spirit’s media day. “I have [ruled myself out], yes.” Ever since Brendon McCullum left the top job, Flower was hailed as the main contender to take over.
In fact, it is not like he has not coached England before — he had a long stint with the side from 2009-2014, winning Ashes and a Tour to India as well. But then England’s loss is RCB’s gain — who have won back-to-back titles under him, and under no circumstances would want to let him go.
RCB and England jobs can’t go together
“Yes, I have spoken with the ECB. We’re all aware of the vacancy for the head coach job of the England national team, and I have spoken with Rob [Key] and the ECB on that topic. The bottom line for me is that I’m very happy in the work that I’m doing at the moment. I work for a couple of really good organisations. I’ve got really good teams around me and good people around me and I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing at the moment.
“I’ve worked with England before and I had an amazing time when I had the privilege to be England head coach and represent England as one of their leaders a number of years ago, and I remember those years really fondly, and it would be a privilege for me or anyone else to be the Test coach. But for me at this time, I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing. I’m going to stick with doing that.”
Flower also opened up on the possibility of coaching RCB and England Test side at the same time. “Well, I can’t speak for other people and it wouldn’t be right for me to speak for the ECB, obviously,” he said. “They’ll have to make their own judgments on that. For me personally, I don’t think I could have done both, especially with the IPL being held during the first couple of months of the English summer. If I was England Test coach, I’d like to be here watching and interacting with the people I needed to watch and interact with, so for me, that wasn’t a possibility.”
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