Cricket: Matthew Mott steps down as England’s white-ball coach

The England men’s cricket team is on the hunt for a new white-ball head coach after Matthew Mott announced on Tuesday that he would be stepping down from the role.

The decision comes off the back of England’s failed T20 World Cup defence, where they scraped through the group stage before crashing out in the semi-finals to India.

Marcus Trescothick, who served as assistant coach under Mott, will be the interim head coach in ODIs and T20Is until the England and Wales Cricket Board names a permanent successor.

Flintoff favourite to succeed Mott as England coach

Former England international Andrew Flintoff looks the most likely candidate to take over from Mott long term.

Since retiring from professional cricket 14 years ago, the Lancashire native has been involved in a variety of coaching roles.

Most recently, the 46-year-old has been coaching the Northern Superchargers in England’s 100-ball competition, the Hundred.

Flintoff has also served in several consultancy positions for the nation’s age-grade cricket.

Flintoff was one of England’s most successful all-rounders, representing England 141 times in ODIs.

He captained his side on 14 occasions, accruing 3,394 runs and 169 wickets across his one-day career.

Who else could step up as coach?

While Flintoff seems the most likely to take over England’s white-ball coaching roles, there are several other names in the mix.

Some cricket bookmakers are even offering prop odds on Mott’s successor.

Flintoff leads the betting at +120, while the next best option is Mike Hussey at +300.

The Aussie has been involved in the English setup before, consulting to the country’s T20I side ahead of their successful 2022 T20 World Cup campaign.

Other contenders are James Foster, Jonathan Trott and Simon Katich, who share the third line of betting at [rm_geo_odd val=6].

Foster, who represented England several times in 2001 and 2002, coaches the Desert Vipers in the Emirati International League T20.

Trott, meanwhile, has largely been credited with Afghanistan’s incredible rise in limited-overs cricket.

After defeating the likes of England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan reached the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals under Trott’s coaching.

Katich also comes with a good spread of experience.

The former Australian opener has worked with the Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League over the past decade.

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