Silverwood and Colly set for step-up
ENGLAND will appoint a new head coach with two assistants given extra responsibility for red and white ball cricket when Trevor Bayliss leaves this summer after the Ashes.
The sudden departure of assistant Paul Farbrace, who will leave for Warwickshire at the end of this Caribbean tour, has focused England’s attention on the succession plan for the coaching duo who have formed a productive partnership over the last four years.
Sportsmail understands Ashley Giles, the new team director, is opposed to the split coaching system that worked so badly when he was put in charge of the white- ball side to work alongside Andy Flower.
So he wants a main man to have overall control in Bayliss’s position but with two senior lieutenants to help take the strain of the coaching workload.
Farbrace, who did so much to launch England’s whiteball revolution after the last World Cup, told Giles in a meeting in Antigua earlier this tour that he did not want to commit to another fouryear international cycle.
But it had become apparent that Farbrace was not being considered for the main role even though he has been Bayliss’s strong right-hand man throughout his spell in charge and has turned down numerous offers to remain with England before now.
England regard bowling coach Chris Silverwood highly and he looks certain to feature in the mix, probably as the red-ball assistant.
He will also be a candidate for the top job after coaching Essex to an unlikely County Championship success in 2017.
Paul Collingwood, who has arrived here to assist England’s one- day side, is also very much in England’s longterm plans and is the favourite for the white-ball role as well as the man most likely to step into Farbrace’s shoes for this summer.
Outside the current set-up, South Africa coach Ottis Gibson is a strong candidate to replace Bayliss and is believed to be very keen on the job. Gibson is known to England from his two stints as bowling coach and has also coached West Indies.
Other candidates include Mickey Arthur, currently doing such a good job with Pakistan, and possibly even Tom Moody, who has twice come close to coaching England in the past.
Giles is in a delicate position because he would like to sort out the future set-up as early as he can, with England facing three tours this winter, but if he appoints someone while the Ashes are still taking place it could undermine Bayliss.
Farbrace has been told to go now by Giles rather than after the World Cup.