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Trevor Bayliss to coach England after Dizzy snub

Jason Gillespie recalls the greatest innings of his career. (AFP PHOTO/ Farjana K. GODHULY)
Roar Rookie
25th May, 2015
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Jason Gillespie has confirmed he won’t be England’s next cricket coach with another Australian, Trevor Bayliss, set to be given the top job.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday announced it was in “exclusive negotiations” with a preferred candidate who’s widely reported to be current NSW coach Bayliss, who is believed to be travelling to England for further talks.

It fell to new ECB director Andrew Strauss to tell Gillespie he was out of the running.

“I’ve spoken to Andrew Strauss and I’m not that preferred candidate,” the Yorkshire coach told Sky Sports.

Asked if he was disappointed, Gillespie replied: “I think it would have been a good job to have – no question.”

“There’s exciting times ahead for English cricket and it would have been a great challenge but it’s not to be.”

The 40-year-old insisted he had a “wonderful” job at Yorkshire and with the Adelaide Strikers and he was looking forward to continuing in those roles.

Bayliss, 52, is less well-known than Gillespie but has a fine coaching pedigree.

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He led NSW to two Sheffield Shield titles, helped Sri Lanka to the 2011 World Cup final and won the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

He is also a former colleague of current England caretaker coach Paul Farbrace.

The pair joined forces in Sri Lanka and together endured a 2009 terrorist attack on the team bus in Pakistan.

Australian spin king Shane Warne had – like most pundits – thought Gillespie “was the man”.

But he thinks Bayliss will do a great job too.

“If Trevor Bayliss is the new coach of England, then England are very lucky, as he is a ripper and even better, he’s pure old school too,” the Test great said on Twitter.

Warne, who played against Bayliss, expects he’ll be a “background sort of coach”.

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“He’s done a wonderful job, on all the reports, with the teams he’s coached,” Warne told Sky Sports.

“Everyone’s a big fan of Trevor Bayliss. He’s fair, he’s harsh, and he creates a pretty good environment.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain suspects Strauss may gone for Bayliss over Gillespie due to the former’s experience coaching limited-overs cricket.

“He’s obviously hugely experienced and also in one-day cricket,” Hussain said on Monday.

“Jason Gillespie hasn’t done a lot of one-day cricket … whereas Bayliss has done IPL and Kolkata Knight Riders.

“England need to look at their one-day cricket so maybe he just ticks more boxes.”

Hussain argues England needs an “external view” considering its poor run of form in the shorter versions of the game.

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He dismissed talk Bayliss might not be suitable simply because he didn’t play international cricket himself.

“They key really is for him to get in that dressing room and start to know the players and get very close to the England captain Alastair Cook and the one-day captain Eoin Morgan.”

Another former England captain, Michael Vaughan, hinted he would have gone with Gillespie.

“He (Bayliss) has a good track record but it would be a big surprise,” Vaughan told the BBC.

“You look at Jason Gillespie’s pedigree – he’s in our system and took Yorkshire to the title.

“He was a part of one of the greatest teams in Australia.”

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