Stephen Fleming backs English coaching talent

England head coach Stephen Fleming has shared that he wants to make county cricket an integral part of the national team’s development, stating that he intends to bring domestic coaches and former players into the set-up as he looks to build on the existing coaching structure. Fleming, who will take charge of his first series in South Africa later this year, also said that the national team should be coached by an Englishman or woman in the future as well.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity, but there will be some development in terms of the coaching, and you can see by our staff,” Fleming told BBC Radio 5 Live. “There are some really key people who have come back into the system and I’m really pleased about that.”

“I look forward to working with them, but it is a real focus and it’s an ambition as well that you will also get county coaches who will be introduced at certain times and you will get past players that will be asked to come back as well. It’s really inclusive and a comfortable nature of using what’s around, but also driving what should be driven within the county game and the English game,” he again shared.

“Yep, I’ll be around and I really enjoyed this year getting to catch up,” again said Fleming. “A lot of the guys I played with are now in positions either coaching or the head positions at counties. It was good to catch up with those guys and get a feel for where the county game is at. I really enjoyed it and it will be a key part to continuing developing players.”

Among Stephen Fleming’s responsibilities is to plan a roadmap for the spinner’s role in the Test team as well. England did not include a specialist spinner in any of their three Test matches against Pakistan. Meanwhile, Shoaib Bashir was named the only specialist Test spinner among England’s fully centrally contracted players last week as well.

“I acknowledge there’s a raft of spinners just below that, that at times are putting their hand up,” said Fleming. “There is a raft of spinners there and are probably looking for an opportunity, and finding those conditions, it could be Bangladesh, where there could be two or three that will come along.”

“The team could look quite different and that’s the horses for courses example. But Bashir has got some experience and is still very young. There’s an aspect of still looking and developing, and trying to find that right combination in the spin department,” he concluded.