I was offered England coach job before Brendon McCullum: Ricky Ponting

Former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting is part of the Ashes 2023 commentary panel.

England have seen a massive change in their style of cricket, especially in Test cricket since they have appointed Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum as their head coach in the longer format. Now, Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has made a revelation that the England Cricket Board first approached him as well before McCullum took on the role of England’s head coach in the longer format. Ricky Ponting is currently in the commentary panel of the Ashes 2023. Ricky Ponting revealed that he got a call from the current ECB director Rob Key for the vacancy but he turned it down as he doesn’t want to be away from his family and kids for long. 

Ponting was offered the England head coach role

Talking about the offer Ricky Ponting said, “I did take some calls from Rob Key as soon as he took over the job. But I am just not ready for a full-time international coaching job, where I am at in my life. Having travelled as much as I have, with young kids now I just don’t want to be away as much as I was”. Ricky Ponting has served as Delhi Capitals head coach in the Indian Premier League and may be replaced by Sourav Ganguly in the next season. Ricky Ponting is currently part of the Ashes 2023 commentary team and he has been a vital member of the team. 

Ricky Ponting doesn’t want his family to suffer from a lot of traveling as this job will involve traveling to multiple countries and cities around the World. Ricky Ponting said, “And even talking to Brendon, his family is only just arriving today, when you have got kids that are in school, moving them around, that’s not what I want to do”. England have done great under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes' leadership. They lost the first Ashes 2023 test at Edgbaston by just 2 wickets and will play the second test at The Lord’s on 28th June.