Flower rules himself out as England seek Test coach

Andy Flower has ruled himself out of the running to replace Brendon McCullum as head coach of the England Test team.

McCullum was sacked from the red-ball role earlier this month following a run of poor form and a number of controversial off-field incidents, but he remains in charge of the England white-ball set-up.

Flower 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, before leaving after a 5-0 series defeat in Australia.

The Zimbabwean is head coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and led them to the Indian Premier League title in 2025 and 2026.

He won The Hundred with Trent Rockets in 2022 and is now the coach of London Spirit and, despite a number of conversations with the ECB, has opted to stay in charge of his current teams.

"I have spoken to the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board). I am aware of the head coach vacancy of the England national team," said Flower at a media day for London Spirit prior to the start of this year's Hundred.

"I have spoken with [managing director of men's cricket] Rob [Key] at the ECB on that topic. The bottom line for me is I'm very happy in the work that I'm doing at the moment.

"I work for a couple of really good organisations, with really good teams around me and I'm really comfortable with what I'm doing at the moment.

"I've worked with England before and I had an amazing time. I had the privilege to be England head coach and represent England a number of years ago and I remember those years really fondly.

"It would be a privilege for me or anyone else to be the Test coach. For me at this time, I'm really comfortable with what I'm doing and I'm going to stick with doing that."

Asked if he had ruled himself out, he added: "I have, yes."

The ECB are currently in an initial stage of identifying candidates, but have not ruled out an interim being in place for the series against Pakistan in August.

Other candidates who have been linked with the post include Jonathan Trott, Richard Dawson, Stephen Fleming and Tom Moody.

Flower has said he made his decision about the role as it would not have been possible to combine being England's Test team coach with his franchise roles.

"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," he said.

"If I was England Test coach I would like to be here, watching and interacting with the people I need to watch and interact with. For me that wasn't a possibility."

-BBC