Marcus Trescothick has revealed he wants to become England’s head coach on a permanent basis after learning to cope with his mental health problems. The former England batter is serving as the men’s white-ball interim head coach during the West Indies tour before Brendon McCullum steps up from his Test role to take charge in all formats from January.
“Previously I thought I wanted to be a head coach, but taking the reins for the two series against Australia and here versus the West Indies has confirmed to me that I would like the opportunity to do it at some point,” Trescothick told the Mail on Sunday. “I’d love to have an opportunity, when the time comes.”
Trescothick’s international career was cut short at the age of 30 by debilitating anxiety issues exacerbated by travelling away from home. He has called for more sportspeople to open up about their mental wellbeing struggles and was made an OBE in April for services to mental health.
Asked what had changed, Trescothick said: “You find methods of understanding and then coping, and then gradually working more and more with therapists I have been able to get to a point where I have been able to say: ‘OK, we’ve done that trip, what’s the stepping stone to doing the next one, and then that one and the one after that?’ I knew opportunities post-playing would mean more travelling. The coach that I want to be involves that.”
England’s managing director of cricket, Rob Key, said the long-term goal was to have an English coach in charge of the men’s senior teams. McCullum is from New Zealand.
Key told the Sunday Times: “We are trying to revamp coach development. In English sports, because of a lack of options, you go for the best coach and often that is an overseas coach. We want it to be an English coach.
“Actually Baz [McCullum] is the greatest form of coach education because Marcus Trescothick, [the spin bowling coach] Jeetan Patel and [the assistant coach] Paul Collingwood have developed more by working with him than through any coaching course.”
Jimmy Anderson is another who has worked in the setup, as a fast bowling mentor, after being hastened into retirement by Key, who said England “had to move on” from their record wicket-taker but hailed him as “brilliant” in his coaching role.
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Key also said he was hopeful Jofra Archer could put his injury woes behind him to become one of England’s “best ever bowlers”. Archer has returned to white-ball action in the Caribbean after a series of elbow and back problems have affected his career in recent years.
Key said: “He’s got the potential to be one of our best-ever bowlers and until someone from the medical team tells me otherwise that’s what you strive for. He’s not had a setback in six months. We’re all happy. Everything is going exactly to plan for Jofra. Can he play Tests next summer? With all my fingers crossed, yes.”
