‘They’ve got someone’: Ex-Aussie coach’s surprise reveal as England coaching frontrunner backed

Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann laughed off suggestions that he would become England’s new Test coach as he shared his belief that the ECB have already lined up Brendon McCullum’s successor.

Lehamnn coached county side Northamptonshire to a record equalling third T20 Blast title on finals day with a 14-run win against Hampshire at Edgbaston on Saturday.

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The 56-year-old regarded the triumph with a side that includes Australians Nathan McSweeney and Chris Lynn as one of the best achievements of his career, but insisted another piece of silverware would not be a launch pad to the England job.

“I’m not sure my wife wants me to spend 300 days [a year] away again,” Lehmann told Cricinfo when asked if he would be interested in the role.

“I haven’t spoken to them, so there’s no point worrying about it.

“For me, if they’ve got rid of Brendon McCullum, they’ve already made the decision and got someone behind the scenes, because that’s how it works.”

Lehmann is speaking from experience having replaced Mickey Arthur as Australia’s coach on the eve of the 2013 Ashes.

The 27-Test batter quit the national team job in the wake of Sandpapergate in 2018 and joined Northamptonshire last year after a stint with the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash.

Lehmann now juggles coaching in England with commentary commitments in the Australian summer, and has not been one of the leading contenders for the England role.

“I’m very happy coaching Northants and I haven’t had any phone calls,” he said in another interview with Sky Sports.

“You’d certainly listen to it. I’m sure there’s so many applicants.

“My feeling is they’ve already made up their mind. If you remove someone mid-summer, you’ve got somebody in mind.”

Fellow former Australia coach Justin Langer pushed closer to the front of the queue yesterday when Andy Flower confirmed he is not interested in a return to guiding England.

The former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper batter will instead stay in charge of back-to-back IPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lord’s-based Hundred franchise the London Spirit.

The Telegraph reported that Langer is on the shortlist of candidates with a widespread belief within English cricket that its Bazballers could benefit from the 105-Test batter’s hard-nosed approach.

Lehmann believes his old teammate would be a good fit.

“If Langer were to go for it, he’d be a really good coach,” he said.

“Whoever takes it on, they’ve got some really talented players. I see some good players in the county system.”

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and ex-England tweaker Richard Dawson are also considered to be among the front runners.

Fleming stepped down as coach of the IPL’S Chennai Super Kings last week and has said that he will “100% give it some consideration” if approached by the ECB.

Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior have taken to social media to advocate for one of their fellow South African born, Ashes winning England teammates to get the nod.

“Now Flower isn’t available I’d have (Jonathan) Trott,” ex-wicketkeeper batter Prior wrote. “Really like the idea of Langer (he would certainly sort the mentality side of things) but would be nice to have one of our own coaching the England team.

“Trott knows how to win in Australia, India & what it takes to be #1 in Test cricket.”

Pietersen simply listed six of Trott’s characteristics, including “great cricket brain” before saying “hopefully he’s a front runner for England red ball team”.

Trott is currently working with Ireland as a consult on a short-term deal after his four year stint as Afghanistan head coach ended in February.

In that time, Trott oversaw an impressive ODI World Cup campaign in India in 2023 where Afghanistan won four of their nine group games to finish sixth on the table.

They defeated England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, and had Australia on the ropes before Glenn Maxwell’s freakish double century saved the day for the world champions.

The following year, Trott took them to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States.

Afghanistan defeated New Zealand in the group stage before stunning Australia in the super eight phase.

They eventually fell to South Africa in the semi-finals.

Trott’s time at the helm came to an end after this year’s T20 World Cup where Afghanistan failed to make it out of the group after losing to South Africa, in a double super over epic, and New Zealand.

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