Legendary England player Michael Vaughan has cautioned Stephen Fleming, the new men's Test coach, that he won't be able to "run the ship" in English cricket as he did during his lengthy tenure with the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
Stephen Fleming recently parted ways with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after 18 years of association, in which he and MS Dhoni, with CSK, won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title five times and the Champions League T20 twice.
When Fleming replaces Brendon McCullum, he may miss Dhoni and the entire CSK support team, including bowling coach Eric Simons, according to Vaughan.
Dhoni was considered to be the tactical mastermind behind CSK’s success, while Fleming was seen as more of a man manager and keeping the players prepped emotionally.
“Fleming is very well respected, renowned for being a very good manager and tactician. I’ve seen him at the IPL, and one of the problems he might discover in English cricket is that we do not have an MS Dhoni to be his captain.
Dhoni ran the ship at Chennai Super Kings, and Fleming had some really good backroom coaches as well. Eric Simons was a wonderful bowling coach for him, a master at getting the white ball to swing. His team was built around skill with the ball, not express pace. I wonder whether that is an indication that the skill side of bowling will come back into the England Test team rather than just out-and-out speed," Vaughan wrote in The Telegraph.
Fleming will form a new leadership group with Joe Root, who returns as England Test captain for his second stint, replacing Ben Stokes.
Vaughan thinks that Fleming's experience with the "modern" players, who is aware of the many opportunities the sport offers, is one of his advantages and might help him alter the team's narrow-minded attitude.
“Fleming also knows how to handle the modern player, guys who can earn more in one franchise gig than we did playing a whole summer for England. They are a different breed now and need to be handled accordingly. We all want flamboyance at the right time, but you can’t play flamboyant, aggressive, entertaining cricket every day, and I hope he is going to really drill that into them. I will also be interested to see who coaches the players. Fleming is not a hands-on coach; he is a manager," Vaughan added.
Fleming will take the job of England Test coach ahead of the South Africa tour next year, with Marcus Trescothick acting as interim head coach during the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.
