UK paper's cheeky anti-Aussie stance

UK newspaper the Daily Mail has reacted to reports suggesting an Australian is set to assume the head coach role of the England national side by cheekily describing such a move as the “ultimate insult”.

Australia Test legends Jason Gillespie and Justin Langer, currently coaches of Yorkshire and Adelaide Strikers, and Western Australia and Perth Scorchers respectively, have been widely named as the front-runners to replace current coach Peter Moores who, according to reports, could lose his position as soon as today (Saturday).

Both were part of a dominant era in Australian cricket in which the men in Baggy Green maintained a stranglehold over the Old Enemy until 2005, with the pair also playing in Australia's last Ashes success on English soil, in 2001.

Quick Single: Gillespie, Langer touted for England role

But the Mail has taken umbrage with the England and Wales Cricket Board’s rumoured decision to consider an Australian for the top job, claiming it tarnishes the Ashes rivalry and leaves England in a no-win situation.

“We drink their lager (when we have to),” the report, labelled as a ‘Sportsmail Comment’, jibed. “We forgive Mel Gibson for his accent in Braveheart. We remember Dame Edna fondly every Saturday night without fresh TV chuckles and we drool over YouTube re-runs of Shane Warne and that delivery.

“But, with English cricket on its knees, did we ever really think we might turn to an Australian to save our team?

“Sport has become more globalised than ever and there is no doubt that the best and most successful coaches in England’s history have been two Zimbabweans in Andy Flower and Duncan Fletcher, but an Australian?

“And maybe even one as patriotic as Justin Langer, who once said that he went to bed with his baggy green cap because he loved it so much?

“This would be an insult to our game.”

The report went on to more seriously suggest that considering the funds being poured into England’s Performance Centre, as well as annual county handouts, the country’s cricket system should be producing high-quality coaches instead of having to rely on foreigners for its top post.

“In the names of WG Grace, Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Denis Compton, Douglas Jardine, Sir Ian Botham and Jimmy Anderson, do not go begging to the old enemy,” it pleaded.

“It is an act of defeat and an admission Australia has more to offer than England before a ball is even bowled.”

The full article can be read here