Ponting becomes latest name to snub England job as Rob Key’s coach hunt goes on

04/22/2022

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has become the latest coach to rule himself out of the running for the vacant England job.

Ponting was said to be high on the list of targets for new Managing Director of England Men's Cricket Rob Key, who is widely expected to split the role between red and white ball cricket. Although previous reports had claimed Ponting was being targeted to coach the Test team, the Daily Mail reports that he was approached to lead the one-day and T20 sides instead.

However, Ponting is said to have informed Key that he is 'not interested in the job'. It was hoped that he could be tempted to combine coaching England with his role at IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, but Ponting instead 'made clear his unavailability'.

The 47-year-old has previously explained that he is unwilling to spend long amounts of time away from his young family, having rejected the chance to coach India last year. He told the Grade Cricketer podcast : "I had a couple of conversations with some people during the IPL about it [the India job].

"The people I spoke to were pretty hell-bent on finding a way to make it work. The first thing I said was 'I just can't give up that time, it will mean I can’t coach in the IPL, I'll have to give up [Channel] 7 stuff, it just can't work'.

"It's nice to have people thinking you might be able to do these big jobs but there's a lot more to come with it than saying yes or no to a coaching gig. I'd love to coach the Australian team, but I have a young family now and to give up 300 days a year is not what I would do. That's where the IPL works so well for me."

Sri Lanka legend Mahela Jayawardene is also said to have rejected an approach, having been considered as a potential option to coach England's white-ball sides. The report also claims that former England opener Nick Knight, who worked alongside Key at Sky Sports, 'may come into the reckoning for the white-ball set-up'.

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson was previously reported as being among the 'favoured candidates' to coach England's Test side, but the Cricketer claim he decided to snub the approach. Gibson previously worked as England's bowling coach across two stints between 2007 and 2010 and then 2015 and 2017.

The report states Gibson 'was approached by Andrew Strauss with a view to discussing the opportunities'. However, the 53-year-old reportedly told Strauss that he was not interested, having only recently been appointed by Yorkshire.

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