Andy Flower has ruled himself out of taking over as England's Test head coach, following Brendon McCullum's sacking from the red-ball role earlier in July 2026 after poor results and off-field controversies. Flower, who led England from 2009 to 2014 and won three Ashes series including the last away victory in 2010-11, said he had spoken to the ECB and its managing director of men's cricket, Rob Key, but decided to remain with his current employers rather than return to the national set-up.

Flower currently coaches Royal Challengers Bengaluru, winning back-to-back IPL titles in 2025 and 2026, and also leads The Hundred side London Spirit, having previously won the competition with Trent Rockets in 2022. He explained that combining these franchise commitments with the England Test role would not be feasible, particularly given the IPL's overlap with the start of the English summer. The ECB is still in the early stages of identifying candidates, with Jonathan Trott, Richard Dawson, Stephen Fleming and Tom Moody among those linked to the job, and an interim appointment has not been ruled out ahead of the Pakistan series in August.