England’s assistant coach Paul Farbrace has emerged as the favourite to succeed Trevor Bayliss as England coach after the Australian admitted his sidekick’s appointment as interim coach was designed to give him more experience in the role.
Farbrace, 50, will manage the side for the IT20 matches against Australia and India over the next couple of weeks.
The ECB had originally said the appointment was made to allow Bayliss – who has a contract until September 2019 and has already stated he won’t be renewing it – the time to observe some key individuals in county cricket, but the England coach has now conceded it is more to do with succession planning.
Farbrace, who made 40 first-class appearances for Kent and Middlesex in a modest playing career, also won the World T20 and Asia Cup in 2014 whilst coaching Sri Lanka.
Bayliss, who will be observing several limited overs county matches plus the remaining Lions fixtures over the next few weeks, has also claimed that Somerset spinner Jack Leach will “obviously come back into calculations” for the Test squad if he is “fit and raring to go”.
The England coach has also backed Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes to be fit to return for the England-India series in August, with the former expected to make a T20 appearance for Durham in the coming days.
