New Delhi, Jul 31 (IANS): Former England captain Michael Atherton believes Andy Flower will be ‘the outstanding candidate’ to become head coach of the men’s white-ball team post Matthew Mott’s departure from the role.

Flower had worked as England’s head coach from 2009 to 2014, where the side had three Ashes series wins and their first Men’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2010. Since then, Flower has made a himself as a coach who’s won various T20 franchise leagues, and even coached Royal Challengers Bengaluru to IPL 2024 playoffs.

Atherton mentioned Flower’s name while talking about who are the possible contenders to be England’s next white-ball coach. "Kumar Sangakkara is near the top of the list. He has worked with Jos (Buttler) of course at the Rajasthan Royals (in the IPL). There's Eoin Morgan, and although he seemed to rule himself out the other day on commentary, I've got no doubt his name will be floated around."

"There's the two Australians held in high regard: Michael Hussey, who worked with England when they won the T20 World Cup in Australia a couple of years ago, and Simon Katich, who is coaching the Manchester Originals in The Hundred."

"There's Jonathan Trott, who has had a fantastic run in charge of Afghanistan. People speak very highly of James Foster, your old colleague and team-mate at Essex and, for me, the outstanding candidate would be Andy Flower," said Atherton in latest episode of Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

Further talking about if England will bring back Flower to the coaching set-up, Atherton remarked, "It's an interesting one. The broad brush rule of life is not to retrace your steps but it's a very different time to when Andy was previously in charge of both Test and white-ball teams."

"He has since gone on to have terrific success in franchise cricket... the role now is almost like leading a franchise, because players come in for a short period and then disappear. One of the problems for Mott was that there were long periods where the team was not in operation."

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, added, "If you're asking me if Andy Flower was available and wanted to do it, he would be my personal favourite. But is that a backwards step?"

Andrew Flintoff’s name has also been taken by many as a contender for the job, but Hussain didn’t see much merit in it. "It may come slightly early for Andrew. You may argue what is on his CV to get the job? That said, I'm not sure the present regime worry too much about CVs."

"They just do what they feel is the best for the future. He obviously has close links with Rob Key and he knows the dressing room, and has been around England Lions camps."

He further talked about how Mott, who coached England to victory in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, got out of the role just two years into the set-up. "My first reaction is it's a bit of a shame, but not unexpected. Ultimately you're judged by results.”

“Results started very well, on the back of continuing the Eoin Morgan/Trevor Bayliss era... they had that immediate success, winning the T20 World Cup in 2022. But since then, it's gone completely in the other direction. The 50-over World Cup (in 2023) was a poor, poor performance, it really was. They were so far off the mark, in terms of results and decision-making.”

Atherton too agreed with Hussain’s views. "I concur with that. The last two World Cups haven't been good. But he goes away as one of only three head coaches to have won a World Cup with England. It's not a completely disappointing two years but the last two World Cups you got the sense that things weren't quite working."