England must break the bank to land Kirsten
South African second favourite to replace Flower
THE England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will have to at least double Andy Flower’s salary of £300 000 (R5.4-million) plus bonuses if it is to appoint Gary Kirsten as England’s next head coach.
Kirsten, 46, coached India to No 1 in the ICC test rankings and the 2011 World Cup, before leaving to coach South Africa to No 1 in the test rankings, and is seen as an ideal replacement for Flower, who resigned on Friday.
Kirsten now coaches the Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils and is so well settled, both domestically and financially, that it would take a far higher sum than has been paid to an England coach before to lure him from Cape Town, where he was born and lives.
The contract with Delhi Daredevils is thought to be worth more than £500 000 (R9.1-million) a year for what is essentially little more than two months’ work. In addition, Kirsten has a contract to work 50 days a year for South Africa as their batting consultant.
He did not come cheap when he was South Africa’s head coach, for two years from mid-2011, with a salary of R4.5-million (£240 000) – more than double that of his predecessors. Given his reputation in India and South Africa, Kirsten can also charge high fees for other consultancy and ambassadorial work. He is also settled in Cape Town, where the main cricket ground is called the Gary Kirsten Oval.
Unless the ECB is ready to break the bank it will have to settle for Ashley Giles, who is even money with bookmakers, while Kirsten is second favourite at 6-1.
ECB chairman Giles Clarke praised Giles, England’s 20 and 50-over coach, in Sydney at the weekend. “I think we would all agree that he is a very strong candidate. He is a man of great integrity, great capabilities and played a lot of cricket for England,” he said.
Clarke, however, said that the new managing director of England Cricket, Paul Downton, would be interviewing other candidates. “There may well be other outstanding candidates who emerge. It will be a matter for Paul and those who he uses to advise him to decide who is appointed.”
Clarke also confirmed that it would be left to the England selectors to decide whether Kevin Pietersen was chosen for the limited-overs squad for the tour of the West Indies, due to be announced tomorrow.
The latest reconfiguration may have saved his place: although Flower remains as a selector for the time being, Giles got on as well as anyone with Pietersen when they played together in the winning Ashes team of 2005.
Clarke said that he expected Alastair Cook to captain England’s test and 50-over teams this season, and that Flower had not been forced out. But the more Downton delved into the reasons behind England’s 5-0 whitewash, the more he agreed with Flower’s diagnosis that splitting the coaching role between Flower and Giles was not working. – The Telegraph