Former England captain and commentator Michael Vaughan has warned the newly appointed England red-ball head coach, Stephen Fleming, who won five IPL titles with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
Writing his exclusive column for The Telegraph, Vaughan stated that Fleming wouldn’t have an MS Dhoni-like personality to ‘run the ship’ in the England team. It’s important to note that while Fleming was considered the man manager in the Chennai-based franchise, it was Dhoni who turned the tactician.
“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,” Vaughan wrote in The Telegraph.
“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,” he added.
It’s worth noting that Root had earlier led the England team between 2017 and 2022, emerging as the country’s most experienced Test captain, having led the side in 65 Tests, securing 27 victories. Root will be back as the full-time captain for the forthcoming Pakistan Test series, starting in August.
On the other hand, Fleming will begin his tenure as the red-ball head coach after the two-match Test series against Pakistan, with Marcus Trescothick acting as interim head coach during the two-match series. Fleming is expected to take charge as head coach for England’s tour of South Africa later this year.
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