Kevin Pietersen believes Paul Collingwood has it in him to carry the England team forward as their head coach post Silverwood’s sacking.
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Following a shameful 0-4 Ashes drubbing against Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), taking strict measures, have sacked Ashley Giles (Director of men’s Cricket), Chris Silverwood (head coach), and Graham Thorpe (batting cum assistant coach), besides having appointed former England skipper Andrew Strauss as their interim director of Cricket.
With discussions around England’s next head coach doing rounds on social media, Strauss, on Saturday, hinted at the possibility of roping in Justin Langer for the post.
“I know him (Justin Langer) well and on the surface he’s done a very good job with that Australian cricket team so I wouldn’t rule him out [for the coaching job]”, remarked Strauss.
“I personally feel someone with an outside view who can check and challenge the thoughts within the dressing room is a healthy thing”, he further added.
Interestingly, Strauss’ aforementioned statement came just hours before Langer himself had relinquished his Australian men’s team head coach post after he was offered a short extension of contract until June.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen, who has often criticized Strauss in the past as well, lost no opportunity to slam the latter on the issue, while suggesting Paul Collingwood as the best suited person to take up the coaching responsibility.
Kevin Pietersen believes Paul Collingwood is perfect for the job
Doubling down on his stance of revamping his country’s County Championship structure, Kevin Pietersen took potshots at Andrew Strauss for attempting to divert the focus from the same, and considering Justin Langer for the head coach post.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Pietersen remarked that no ‘super name’ coach can fix England’s poor batting standards at present, and suggested Paul Collingwood as the perfect man to take up the coaching responsibility.
Collingwood took charge as England’s coach during their recently concluded 5-match T20I series versus West Indies.
Pietersen has for quite some time now expressed his concerns around England’s ‘mediocre’ standard of County Cricket Championship in place at present.
Post England’s Ashes series defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the Boxing Day Test, the 41-year-old even came up with a ‘proposal’ to save Test Cricket in England via a blog, where he suggested the ECB to introduce a red-ball franchise tournament in the country, modelled around ‘The Hundred’.
