Former England skipper Eoin Morgan is reported to become England’s next white-ball head coach. The reports on Tuesday, July 23, suggested that Eoin Morgan could replace Matthew Mott as the next white-ball coach. It is worth noting that the change in leadership is being looked upon after England’s failed title defense of the ODI and T20 World Cups.
Reports suggested that Mott would leave the post, and England has started to sound out possible candidates. While Eoin Morgan has been linked to the job, the former skipper came forward to quickly debunk such rumors. England’s World Cup-winning former skipper, Eoin Morgan denied media reports of taking over from under-fire Matthew Mott as the team’s coach for limited-overs cricket, but also said that he has the desire to coach in the future.
England’s Dismal performance in 2023 and 2024 World Cup’s under Matthew Mott
After securing the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022 in Australia along with the newly-appointed captain Jos Buttler, Mott’s partnership with the Three Lions’ white-ball superstar sank to a low as they failed to defend their 50-over World Cup crown in 2023 in India and the T20 World Cup title in the West Indies and the USA this year.
In the 2023 World Cup, England lost six out of their nine games, including matches to Afghanistan and their arch-rivals India and Australia and were on the verge of missing out on direct qualification to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Though England reached the semifinals of the T20 World Cup, where they lost by 68 runs to India, they had to rely on Australia to beat Scotland in order to advance to the Super Eight.
Mott coached England to their second T20 World Cup title in 2022, but the team has been on a downward trajectory ever since. England were the defending champions in the 50-over and 20-over World Cup in 2023 and 2024, respectively, but were unsuccessful in retaining their crowns.
Eoin Morgan names potential candidates for England coaching role post 2024 WT20 debacles
Former World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan outlined a few candidates that would be perfect to take over England’s white-ball teams after Matthew Mott’s exit. The Australian coach’s reign ended after two years following England’s tame exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Marcus Trescothick is currently in charge of the team on an interim basis, but the management would be keen on bringing in a new coach to oversee the imminent transition. There have been some names linked to the vacant position already, but there is still no concrete information regarding the same.
Eoin Morgan was himself one of the candidates brought up by fans and the media. However, the former player has distanced himself from the role, claiming that the timing is not right. However, he shed his opinion regarding who should be England’s next white-ball coach.
“You got to remember, it’s the England cricket team, it’s one of the most resourced cricket teams in the world, so it is up to Rob [Key] to make that role as attractive as possible. So you then go to the best coaches or highly regarded coaches in the world and say ‘Well, this is a job that you want to do as opposed to having to second guess it,'” Morgan told Sky Sports.
“In my eyes, at the moment, you would go to Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, and Brendon McCullum. I say McCullum because I believe he is one of the best coaches in the world,” he added.
Rahul Dravid recently guided Team India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title, while Ricky Ponting found success with the Washington Freedom in the recently concluded 2024 Major League cricket (MLC). Fleming has been a long-time head coach of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), while McCullum is the current England red-ball coach.
You want the best person on the planet to come in and help Jos Buttler” – Eoin Morgan
Eoin Morgan made a strong case for Brendon McCullum to take over the white-ball coaching responsibilities as well, based on the success he has had with Ben Stokes in the longest format.
“You see what he did with the Test team? Yes, the biggest question would be how he makes it fit over the course of 12 months. You want the best person on the planet to come in and help Jos Buttler and the England cricket team get better,” Morgan remarked.
Morgan also feels that McCullum might not have considered handling all formats for the England team.
“To be honest, I don’t think he’s given a lot of thought yet, and if anything, he should, and Rob Key should have that conversation with him,” Morgan concluded.
In terms of white-ball coaching, Brendon McCullum has been the head coach of both the Trinbago Knight Riders and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL), respectively.