England will revert to a split-coaching structure for the first time in eight years after the ECB formally advertised for two new head coaches: one for their Test team, the other for white-ball cricket.
Collingwood was in charge of both the T20I and Test tours to the Caribbean earlier this year on an interim basis but both series ended in defeat and his closeness to the players as an assistant coach may count against him following England’s poor run of results.
The job specifications suggest that the ideal candidates for the roles should be “accomplished strategists with clear and ambitious plans for how they will develop and build success for English cricket moving forward” who will show that they can “create a winning culture and world-leading teams”.
Key will be formally unveiled to the media at Lord’s on Thursday, just over a week after starting his new role, and is expected to present a clearer outline of his vision to revive the England teams after a disappointing winter which saw the Test team go winless across eight games and the T20I side beaten in the semi-finals of the World Cup in the UAE.
While working as a pundit for Sky Sports, Key was critical of his predecessor Giles’ decision to make the position of national selector redundant and hand those duties to Silverwood. He is yet to confirm whether he will appoint a single selector, but the advertisement for the coaching roles stipulates that the each new head coach will play “a central role in selecting the team for their respective format alongside a national selection panel”.