Yorkshire have begun treating the appointment of Jason Gillespie to the position of England head coach as an inevitability, with plans now being formed at the club for life after their title-winning Australian.
Gillespie held positive talks with the director of England cricket, Andrew Strauss, on Thursday and officials at Headingley are anticipating a job offer to follow – and to be accepted – after the conclusion of their four-day county championship fixture at Somerset that starts Sunday.
While the club are expected to seek compensation from the England and Wales Cricket Board, the 40-year-old will leave with their blessing. Such has been his impact on the club since he joined in November 2011 the departure will leave a huge hole and puts Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, in a delicate situation.
Aware of the empowering environment fostered by Gillespie, one that led to a first championship title in 13 years last summer, and the possible impact that would be created by bringing in a replacement from outside, the sense at Yorkshire is that the structure should continue for the rest of the campaign.
To that end, Moxon is expected to take a more hands-on role for the remainder of the season and could be assisted by Anthony McGrath, the club’s popular former batsman who has been operating as a coaching consultant at Headingley since February and has become a more visible presence around the first team in recent weeks.
The galvanising effect of that culture under Gillespie may have inadvertently affected his future charges here in the shape of the New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson, whose 132 from 262 balls put the visitors into a position of strength on day three.
Williamson, who resumed unbeaten on 92, secured his place on the Lord’s honours board in the second over of the day with a dabbed three down to third man – an area of some profitability during 379 minutes at the crease in which his last 40 runs came from 121 deliveries.
But perhaps of greater historical significance was his entry into a more exclusive club, becoming the eighth batsman to record 10 Test centuries before the age of 25 and the first since Alastair Cook.
The right-hander’s career has certainly experienced an upturn in fortunes since he joined Yorkshire for the final five matches of the 2013 season. Williamson then averaged 31 from 25 Tests but since working under Gillespie he has averaged 77, with seven centuries in 15 Tests, including an unbeaten 242 against Sri Lanka in his previous innings.
Williamson, who returned to Leeds for part of their 2014 triumph and will finish this summer at the club, has proved a popular figure in the set-up, earning the nickname Kanos – where he has been described as “typical Yorkshire player” and “the ultimate professional”.
This before-and-after moment in his red-ball career may, of course, be a statistical quirk, with Williamson, fittingly from the Bay of Plenty, having been tipped for the top since becoming the eighth New Zealander to score a century on his Test debut, against India in Ahmedabad, when aged 20.
Among them is his fellow countryman and former Test batsman Martin Crowe, who believes Williamson’s ability to remain so serene at the crease is comparable to the great Sachin Tendulkar and that opponents are yet to discover technical frailties.
“Kane is hard to define, which I believe makes him hard to dismiss,” Crowe said. “His all-round game is so strong that strengths and weaknesses are hard to identify specifically. Like Sachin, he has an inactive ego and remains protected from internal conflict, hence he retains control when he bats.”
