Monty Panesar isn’t convinced Stephen Fleming was the right call. The former England spinner has questioned the ECB’s decision to hand Fleming the Test coaching job, arguing Michael Vaughan the man who masterminded the 2005 Ashes win — was sitting right there and got passed over.
The appointment came fast. Brendon McCullum was axed as Test coach earlier this month, not long after Ben Stokes stunned everyone by walking away from Test cricket following the third Test against New Zealand. Joe Root steps back in as captain, a role he’s held before, while vice-captain Harry Brook many expected he’d get the nod was overlooked.
Panesar’s issue isn’t really with Fleming’s cricket brain. It’s that Fleming, for all his success in franchise cricket, has never run an international side before. Vaughan, by his logic, would have brought something Fleming simply can’t yet claim.
“I think the ECB should have appointed Michael Vaughan because he won the Ashes in 2005. He knows how to mastermind (victories) against the Australians. He’s an Englishman, and probably has the best man-management skills that we know. It’s a man-management role,” Panesar told The Indian Express.
“Dhoni Made Fleming a Great Coach”
Panesar didn’t stop there. He argued that Fleming’s reputation owes a lot to MS Dhoni — maybe more than Fleming himself would like to admit.
“They went with Fleming, who doesn’t have the great man, MS Dhoni. What made Fleming a great coach? Dhoni. We cannot forget this. He’s been working with Dhoni for a long time. Suddenly, Dhoni is not as active in the IPL as he used to be. And Fleming couldn’t keep Chennai Super Kings at the same level. So, we’ll probably get to know Fleming and how good he is as a coach,” Panesar said.
It’s a fair point to raise, even if it’s a little unkind Fleming did lead CSK to five IPL titles across nearly two decades in charge, so it’s not as if he’s coasted on Dhoni’s coattails the whole way. But Panesar’s broader wager is simple: national team coaching is a different beast, and nobody actually knows yet how Fleming handles it without the old support system around him.
Two Kiwis, One Dressing Room
There’s also the small matter of Fleming and McCullum old New Zealand teammates now running England’s red-ball and white-ball setups side by side. Panesar thinks that could get complicated fast.
“I suppose it’d be interesting. Like if Fleming wants his best players for red-ball cricket, and then not making them available for white ball, would McCullum agree to that? Or do they both agree, maybe, for the important white-ball games, some of the Test match players are available for that?
“But then possibly for the less important ones, they don’t play. But because McCullum looks up to Fleming, he’ll probably agree to him. Also, with a view to winning the Ashes next year (in England), I think McCullum probably would accommodate Fleming for the Ashes, and then it would reverse for the World Cup (50-over in South Africa) in October,” he said.
Flatter Pitches Ahead for Pakistan?
Panesar also weighed in on what’s coming up: a three-Test series against Pakistan starting August 19. His read is that the ECB will want games running deep into a fourth day commercial reality more than cricketing preference.
“Well, I suppose the next Test series is in August now against Pakistan. The corporate hospitality industry is massive in this country. The ECB would want the games to go into at least a fourth day. Pakistan are not at their strongest. So, they may just produce slightly flatter pitches. The ball will probably turn a lot more, I suspect, because of the heatwave we’ve had here over the last couple of months. I don’t think they’ll produce green pitches,” Panesar added.
Fleming, notably, won’t be pitchside for that series — he only takes over fully ahead of England’s tour of South Africa later this year, with Marcus Trescothick holding the fort as interim coach in the meantime.