I DON’T HAVE THE ENERGY SAYS FARBY
ENGLAND’S bid for World Cup glory has been rocked by the sudden departure of one of the main architects of their four-year climb to No.1.
Paul Farbrace, assistant coach to Peter Moores and then Trevor Bayliss, has jumped ship to join Warwickshire as their director of sport in a role vacated by Ashley Giles when he took a similar position with England.
He will leave at the end of the current tour of the Windies, where he admitted that he had already decided to quit the national side in September rather than apply for Bayliss’ job because he ‘didn’t have the energy’ to stay on the international treadmill.
“It’s a huge wrench,” said Farbrace, 51. “I found it hard telling one or two people yesterday and I couldn’t tell too many this morning. I had to send a WhatsApp around the players and management groups.
“Even now just thinking about it, it’s tough because I’ve had the opportunity to do something I never dreamed I would come close to doing.
“I wasn’t good enough to play international cricket, I only played a little bit of county cricket.
“There is never a perfect time to leave and this is not something I’ve done lightly. From a selfish point of view the ideal time would have been after The Ashes, this causes as little disruption as possible.
“Of course, every coach wants to coach their national team but I don’t think I could have committed to another four years. I don’t think I’ve got the energy.
“Personally I need to do something different. International cricket is not something you can do half-heartedly.”
Farbrace’s departure could see an existing member of the backroom staff like Paul Collingwood step up into the void between now and the World Cup.
Now that he has retired as a player, Collingwood has signed on to stay involved with England through to the end of the World Cup and he is a red-hot favourite to be the main white-ball coach under a new head coach when Bayliss moves on. Bowling coach Chris Silverwood is tipped to fulfil the same role in The Test side following the Ashes, unless he makes a successful bid for the top job. Farbrace (above) added: “There’s enough knowledge, there’s enough experience in the set-up.
“Colly’s been around World Cups himself – that was one of the reasons for getting him involved.”
Farbrace has played his part along the journey as the man who, along with Eoin Morgan, picked England’s ODI side up from their lowest ebb following the disastrous 2015 World Cup campaign.
As interim boss he oversaw the game against New Zealand that changed it all, when England posted a then-record 408 and set the template for the next four years.
“I’ll miss being in a tracksuit,” he added.
“I think this is a role for me – with all the experience I’ve gained – to share some of that and work with other people to be as successful as possible.” FINAL TRY: Zak Hardaker says he’s cleaned up his act