Arabic version: آندي فلاور يرفض العودة كمدرب رئيسي لمنتخب إنجلترا للاختبارات

Andy Flower has ruled himself out of replacing Brendon McCullum as head coach of the England Test team, saying he will remain with his current franchise roles.

According to BBC News, Flower told reporters at a London Spirit media day that he had spoken with the ECB and with managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key, but he is “very happy in the work that I’m doing at the moment.” He added that he had “spoken to the ECB” and was “aware of the head coach vacancy of the England national team.”

Flower, who was England head coach from 2009 to 2014 and helped the team to win the Ashes on three occasions including their last away win in 2010-11, is currently head coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and led them to Indian Premier League titles in 2025 and 2026. He also won The Hundred with Trent Rockets in 2022 and is now coach of London Spirit. He said the roles could not be combined: “For me, personally, I don’t think I could have both, especially with the IPL being held in the first couple of months of the English summer.” When directly asked if he had ruled himself out he said: “I have, yes.”

The decision matters because England sacked McCullum from the red-ball role earlier this month following a run of poor form and a number of controversial off-field incidents, and the ECB is now seeking a new Test coach. The governing body is in an initial stage of identifying candidates, has not ruled out an interim coach for the upcoming Pakistan series in August, and other names linked to the role include Jonathan Trott, Richard Dawson, Stephen Fleming and Tom Moody.

What happens next: the ECB are currently in an initial stage of identifying candidates and have not ruled out an interim being in place for the series against Pakistan in August. Flower says he will “stick with” his current teams and remain with his franchise commitments.

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