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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Matthew Cooper

Nasser Hussain names four candidates Rob Key must consider for England coaching gig

Rob Key has been named England's new Managing Director of Men's Cricket and one of the first things he needs to do is appoint a new head coach.

Key has previously said he feels England should have separate coaches for red and white ball cricket, stating the two teams need 'completely different styles of coaches'. He told Sky Sports : "I would split the coaching. Not because it's a lot of work but because it's two very different teams at two different times.

"The [white-ball] team could do with a facilitator coach who can just keep delivering what they're doing but challenge them. The Test team needs a completely different style of coach - a driver of culture and environment."

And former England captain Nasser Hussain has named a four-man shortlist of candidates to coach the Test team that Key should approach. Australia legends Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer both make the list, as does former India and South Africa coach Gary Kirsten.

Mark Robinson is the final name on Hussain's list, having coached the England women's team to their 2017 World Cup win and Warwickshire to their County Championship triumph last season. Speaking to Sky Sports, Hussain said: "We can all wax lyrical about who we want as captain and coach, but it depends on who is available.

"Some of the foreign coaches have lucrative IPL gigs, would they be willing to give that up? The England white-ball team have Morgan in charge, and you could even argue in three or six months' time, Buttler could take over the captaincy and Morgan could end up a coach of the white ball side. I see no problem with that at all, Morgan is a fantastic leader of men.

Hussain named Australia legends Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting as two options who should be considered to coach England's Test side (Luke Walker/Getty Images)

"But the Test match side are underachieving, they need a bit of a kick up the backside and a change in culture. The ingredients are there: we are not the best side in the world, but there is no way we are the worst side in the world and that's exactly where we sit.

"Those candidates could be Gary Kirsten, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Mark Robinson. That's one thing Andrew Strauss did well early, he got those big decisions right.

"He stuck with Morgan, he brought in Trevor Bayliss, he got that absolutely spot on. The next three or four decisions Key makes will be vital for the future of our cricket."

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