It's the 2027 Ashes and Justin Langer is coaching against his old side ...

PL on the three Cs absent from the English set up and the tantalising prospect of JL taking the job

Justin Langer Trent Bridge, 2018

England’s issues in the Test arena are, at least, clear, immediate and alliterative; no captain, no coach and a distinct lack of common sense. The two positions have only been recently vacated, but the absence of common sense has been painfully obvious for some years now. Never has such a talented side been so adept at snatching defeat from victory’s mouth.

The search for a coach is of most interest at this point. A new coach will play a role in the search for a new captain, and have to deal with the claim the former Test coach Brendon McCullum has made over Harry Brook, who he says is like a son to him.

Who is going to simultaneously take over from and work with a former husband still living in the back half of the family home?

Who has Rob Key, a man who has miraculously emerged from the carnage with a few scratches and a strange silence, been talking to? Apparently there’s a short list that’s as long as the sort of queue you see in auditions for Britain’s Got Talent. Some with more qualifications than others.

Andy Flower has said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ and Mike Atherton has mourned the missing of that boat, arguing Key should have acted immediately after the Ashes.

That Andy Flower should rule himself out of the England coaching conundrum is not entirely surprising, given the breadth of his portfolio, but it is a disappointment nonetheless, as he is unquestionably the outstanding coach of the moment. His decision reflects partly where he is at, partly where the game is at and partly where the ECB is at, which is to say in a muddle of its own making.

The Guardian is reporting that Langer is now a leading candidate. When Et Al contacted the Australian in England at the start of the process, he had not been contacted. We’ve left him alone since for various reasons, but his management did not respond when we asked if there’d been any movement over the weekend.

When Langer’s name first came up for the Australian job after Darren Lehmann’s demise, he was, understandably, not sure he had the desire to lift that shattered outfit out of the hole it had dug itself. It didn’t take long, however, for him to answer the call of his country.

Last time England were looking for a coach, Langer, shattered by the experience with Australia, was still putting the pieces of himself back together. He said at the time that he could never imagine himself coaching England.