Andy Flower to stick with RCB, graciously turns down England Test head coach role

The Zimbabwe legend was even given the choice of keeping both roles at once, but he said it wasn’t feasible.

Updated on: Jul 18, 2026, 21:31:52 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru mastermind Andy Flower has said no to the England and Wales Cricket Board's proposal to become the new Test head coach of the national team after the removal of Brendon McCullum last week.

Andy Flower won back-to-back IPLs with RCB. (PTI)

The ECB apparently were so willing to take him on board that they even proposed the idea of Flower keeping two roles at once, at the English Test team as well as at the RCB. But Flower, who earlier coached England to three Ashes wins and a Test series win in India between 2009 and 2014, didn't find that a great idea since the IPL and the English summer coincided, and that wouldn't have been ideal for preparations.

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When asked by Cricinfo if he had turned down the offer, Flower replied, "I have, yes." Flower also coaches The Hundred side London Spirit. The league starts next week. "I have spoken with the ECB. We're all aware of the vacancy for the head coach job of the England national team, and I have spoken with Rob [Key] and the ECB on that topic. [But] the bottom line for me is that I'm very happy in the work that I'm doing at the moment," he added.

Speaking about how the RCB and the ECB jobs couldn't be held by him at the same time, Flower said: "For me, personally, I don't think I could have done both, especially with the IPL being held during the first couple of months of the English summer. If I was England Test coach, I'd like to be here [in the UK] watching and interacting with the people I needed to watch and interact with. So for me, that wasn't a possibility."

"I work for a couple of really good organisations [RCB and London Spirit]. I've got really good teams around me and good people around me, and I'm really comfortable with what I'm doing at the moment.

"I've worked with England before, and I had an amazing time when I had the privilege to be England head coach and represent England as one of their leaders a number of years ago, and I remember those years really fondly, and it would be a privilege for me or anyone else to be the Test coach. But for me, at this time, I'm really comfortable with what I'm doing; I'm going to stick with doing that," he added.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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