Gillespie confirms he will not coach SA

Jason Gillespie’s decision not to apply for South Australia’s coaching job has prompted speculation he has firmed to take over the England role which could mean an Ashes showdown with his former Redbacks teammate Darren Lehmann.

Gillespie, the coach of reigning England County Champions Yorkshire, was recently appointed coach of the Adelaide Strikers for the next two KFC T20 Big Bash League seasons and was among the leading candidates touted to succeed Darren Berry at Adelaide Oval.

However, the former Australia opening bowler has contacted SA Cricket Association chief executive Keith Bradshaw to advise he will not be applying for the role as the deadline for applications passed late last week.

“We can confirm that Jason Gillespie has not applied for the role as West End Redbacks Head Coach,” Bradshaw told cricket.com.au today.

“He is committed to Yorkshire Cricket Club, where his family are also based, and we understand that he wishes to remain there.

“He is excited to be joining the Adelaide Strikers for BBL05 and we can’t wait for him to return to Adelaide Oval in this role.

“Applications for the West End Redbacks Head Coach closed late last week and we are excited about the calibre of potential coaches who have applied.

“Our selection panel will work through the pool of candidates this week and we hope to begin interviews shortly.”

Gillespie confirmed he was flattered by the interest shown, but had decided not to apply.

“I’m excited by what we are all doing at Yorkshire, and I am really looking forward to my role with the Adelaide Strikers," 40-year-old Gillespie told The Yorkshire Post.

“While the lure of moving back to Adelaide is there, the opportunity of working with our players and our support staff here at Yorkshire is something I’m thankful for and I’m continually learning a lot.

“I believe Yorkshire and the Strikers is the best fit for me at this stage of my coaching career.”

Gillespie’s decision was confirmed shortly after England slumped to a five-wicket loss to the West Indies in the final Test of their three-match campaign in the Caribbean, which saw the series drawn 1-1 and pressure continue to mount on coach Peter Moores.

Since Moores was returned to the England job (that he previously held from 2007-09) after Andy Flower was sacked a year ago, England has drawn Test series with Sri Lanka (in the UK) and the West Indies and was knocked out of the 2015 ICC World Cup before the play-off rounds.

Despite comfortably defeating India in last summer’s home Test series, England have lost 18 of their 28 ODIs under Moores and are currently ranked fourth in Test cricket, sixth in ODIs and eighth in T20 on the ICC’s Reliance World Rankings tables.

They could drop even further in the Test rankings should they fail in their upcoming Test and ODI home series against New Zealand and Australia.

In the wake of England’s premature World Cup departure and prior to the start of their Caribbean tour, recently appointed England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman Colin Graves warned that questions would be asked if they did not defeat a “mediocre” West Indies team.

"I'd certainly be disappointed if we don't win the West Indies series, because I am pretty sure the West Indies are going to have a mediocre team," Graves told BBC Radio in March.

"A lot of their stars are going to be playing in the Indian Premier League anyway, not in the Tests, so we should win that series.

"If we don't win, I can tell you now there will be some enquiries of why we haven't."

Should Moores’s future be reviewed in the wake of today’s defeat in Barbados, Gillespie is likely to come under strong consideration for the England coaching job given that it was Graves who – as chairman of Yorkshire – appointed him to the job of the county’s coach in 2012.

It is expected that no decision on the England job will be made until a new Director of England Cricket is appointed by the ECB after former Test ‘keeper Paul Downton was sacked from that role last month.

Ex-England and Yorkshire captain Michael Vaughan had indicated he was interested in the position but reportedly pulled out of the running last week, leaving another former England captain Andrew Strauss as the leading candidate.

Vaughan, who was at Kensington Oval in Barbados for England’s loss in his role as a radio commentator for the BBC, was vocal in the aftermath of the team’s batting capitulation.

He tweeted “FFS” and “Sometimes you have to accept its not working …” shortly after the West Indies chased down the 192 needed for victory followed by “Losing a Test and drawing a series against very young @westindies team...!!! I can't accept that the team are getting better.. #Sorry”.

Should Gillespie, who is Australia’s seventh-highest Test wicket-taker with 259 from 71 Tests between 1996 and 2006, take the helm at the ECB his appointment will come in strikingly similar circumstances to that of his long-time teammate and close friend Lehmann.

It was just days before Australia’s 2013 Ashes campaign began in the UK that Lehmann was appointed to replace Mickey Arthur as coach, and England’s home summer gets underway in just over a fortnight with the opening Test against NZ starting at Lord’s on May 21.

The five-Test Ashes series begins six weeks later with the first Test in Cardiff beginning on July 8.

It is understood that Gillespie has a clause incorporated in his Adelaide Strikers’ contract that would enable him to withdraw from that job should an international coaching position arise in the meantime and preclude him from fulfilling his BBL obligations.

The SACA has appointed a panel that includes former Australia Test vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, ex-Australia coach Tim Nielsen, long-time AFL coach, player and commentator David Parkin and Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager of Team Performance Pat Howard to select the new Redbacks coach.

A short-list of candidates is expected to be finalised later this week and an appointment is due to be announced before the Redbacks begin their pre-season training mid-year.