Was approached for England Test coach position before McCullum: Ponting

PTI, Jun 24, 2023, 10:03 AM IST

Australia’s World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting has revealed that he was approached for the England Test coaching role before Brendon McCullum took over last year.

After an embarrassing 0-4 Ashes defeat Down Under, the England men’s team set-up went through a massive overhaul with McCullum and Matthew Mott replacing Chris Silverwood as the Test and white-ball coaches respectively.

Test skipper Joe Root also stepped down from captaincy while batting mentor Graham Thorpe and managing director Ashley Giles also lost their jobs.

Ponting said he was approached by Rob Key, who was then appointed as the English Cricket Board’s new director of men’s cricket.

“I actually got asked before Brendon took the job – there you go, you guys might be the first to find that out,” Ponting told the Guerilla Cricket podcast.

“I did take some calls from Robert Key as soon as he took over that job.”

However, Ponting, who is the head coach of Indian Premier League side Delhi Capitals, turned down the offer, as he wants to spend time with his family.

“But I’m just not ready for a full-time international coaching job, where I am at in my life. Having travelled as much as I have, with young kids now, I just don’t want to be away as much as I was.”

“And even talking to Brendon, his family is only just arriving today. When you have got kids that are in school, moving them around, that’s not what I want to do,” the former Australian batter said.

Under new Test skipper Ben Stokes and coach McCullum, England have adopted and aggressive and fearless brand of cricket popularly known as ‘Bazball’, coined by an English cricket journalist after the former Black Caps skipper’s nickname ‘Baz’.

Since the duo took over, the England Test side has been revitalised. The team has won 11 of their 13 Tests and not lost a single series yet.

However, England were on the wrong side of the result in the Ashes opener in Edgbaston earlier this week as they suffered a two-wicket defeat.

The second Ashes Test is scheduled to start at the Lord’s on Wednesday.