Ricky Ponting, a veteran of Australia, has disclosed that Brendon McCullum wasn’t the first candidate England contacted regarding the head coach position of the men’s Test team for Three Lions. Ponting was offered to manage the England Team first.
Chris Silverwood as head coach, Graham Thorpe as batting coach, Ashley Giles as managing director, and Joe Root as captain were all fired after England’s catastrophic 4-0 Ashes loss in Australia in early 2022.
In April 2022, Rob Key was named the ECB’s director of men’s cricket. The following month, Brendon McCullum was named as the next Test coach. Key and his hiring team, which comprised chief executive Tom Harrison, performance director Mo Bobat, and strategic consultant Andrew Strauss, said McCullum was the “outstanding candidate” for the position.
With McCullum and Ben Stokes as its captain, England has embraced an aggressive approach known as “Bazball,” which has led to only three losses in 14 Test matches.
As head coach of the England men’s Test team, Brendon McCullum has presided over a revolution, but things might have turned out very differently if Ricky Ponting had accepted.
Ponting said that Key approached him for the coaching position prior to McCullum and provided the rationale for his rejection. The 48-year-old was Justin Langer’s assistant during the 2019 World Cup in England and is currently the head coach of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.
“I actually got asked before Brendon took the job,” Ricky Ponting told Guerilla Cricket this week.
“I did take some calls from Robert Key as soon as he took over that job. But I’m just not ready for a full-time international coaching job, where I’m at in my life. Having traveled as much as I have, with young kids now I just don’t want to be away as much as I was.
“And even talking to Brendon, his family is only just arriving today. When you’ve got kids that are in school, moving them around, that’s not what I want to do.”
During the Ashes, Ricky Ponting served as a commentator for Sky Sports and provided insightful analysis of the action throughout the opening Test at Edgbaston.
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