Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has named Graham Ford as his favoured option to take over the role of England Test head coach.

The position has been left vacant since Chris Silverwood was axed in the aftermath of England’s 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia, with separate coaches for red- and white-ball cricket set to be appointed. Ford is one of several names reportedly in the frame, with former India coach and South Africa captain Gary Kirsten rumoured to be the favourite.

Ford has served two stints as Sri Lanka head coach, and resigned from the role of Ireland head coach in November 2021, citing health and family reasons. He has also occupied high-profile roles in county cricket, as director of cricket at Kent and head coach of Surrey.

“Personally I would love to see Graham Ford come in as Test coach to complete the brain trust,” Pietersen wrote for Betway. “He is an incredible man manager and he’ll work with every player all day long. He’ll give you throwdowns until dark and you can ring him at 2am with any issue. He’s a fabulous leader who understands the game of cricket like no other.”

Pietersen has spoken in the past of Ford’s positive influence on his cricket career. “Within 10 minutes of working with him, he identified an issue – a technical hitch I had got myself into – which he corrected,” Pietersen, speaking to Shortlist in 2014, said. “He’s one of the most humble, helpful people I’ve ever come across – he was brilliant for me technically. He treats everyone exactly the same – it doesn’t matter if you’ve never played a first-class cricket match or played 150 Test matches, he’ll treat you exactly the same. He’s just a great role model as to how one should be. He’s there just to give, give, give.”

Ford has expressed his interest in the England job. “If England felt that I was a suitable fit in any sort of role – gee, one would love to be involved with English cricket,” he told The Telegraph. “Certainly red-ball cricket’s my preferred format of the game. I absolutely love it so to be involved in Test cricket again would be something special for me.”

Ford worked with Rob Key, the new managing director of England men’s cricket, in his time at Kent, and spoke approvingly of his appointment. “He’s a hell of a good man in terms of working with people,” Ford said. “Rob brilliant to work with. It’s no surprise he’s been appointed to his position because he’s got a great cricketing brain.”

Pietersen also endorsed the appointments of Key and Ben Stokes, England’s new Test captain.

“Being appointed as England Test captain is an incredible honour,” he said. “Ben Stokes and his family will be incredibly proud and rightly so. I’m a firm believer that the England team needs a leadership group with some gravitas and personality.

“I enjoyed hearing Rob Key talking about getting the best coaching system in place to change the mentality of the team. It’s been so doom and gloom, the cricket’s been poor and the results have been rubbish. The whole thing needs a shake-up. They’ve got to get the right personnel in charge, above the team, to make sure that the environment is right.”

However, he caveated his praise by reiterating his belief that England’s progress would be “hamstrung” unless a “radical overhaul of the system” took place.

“Ultimately, Stokes and the new coach will be hamstrung until a radical overhaul of the system improves the quality of players coming through,” he said. “It will be difficult until then, but I wish Stokes the best of luck.”