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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced Stephen Fleming as the new head coach of the Test side. However, he will not be able to take the role from the upcoming series against the Pakistan National Cricket Team, which is scheduled to start on 19th August and will run till 13th September, with three Test matches scheduled.
Stephen Fleming will be taking charge of the team from the South Africa tour in December. Till then, Marcus Trescothick will serve as interim Head Coach.
Joe Root has also returned as the Test captain after Ben Stokes retired from international cricket following the New Zealand series last month. Fleming has a wealth of experience coaching across the world. Root holds the record for captaining England Men in the most Test matches (65 Tests) as well as the most wins (27 wins).
Why Stephen Fleming will not take charge from the Pakistan series?
Stephen Fleming will not take charge from the Pakistan series because he will spend time with his family in New Zealand after ending a lengthy coaching period with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and their sister franchises. He left the Super Kings franchise earlier this year after serving them for nearly 18 years.
Stephen Fleming, due to the IPL, SA20, and coaching in various leagues, does not get much time to spend with his family. This has been the reason the ECB has allowed him to spend some time with his family before joining the head coach role. He will fly to the UK later this summer to begin preparations for the South Africa Test tour.
England yet to win a Test match
England has scheduled ten Test matches before the home Ashes next summer. Fleming's first significant challenge as head coach will be to win back the urn, which they haven’t won a series against Australia since 2015. The Three Lions will first be looking to win the Test series against Pakistan.
The Three Lions have not won a Test in the last three series against top teams; they lost against the Kiwis, prior to that they were thumped by the Aussies in the Ashes, and they drew against the India National Cricket Team. They last won a one-off Test match against Zimbabwe.
Stephen Fleming coaching record
Fleming served as New Zealand's most successful Test captain (28 victories) and longest-serving (80 Tests). He played for Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Middlesex. In 2005, he led Notts to a County Championship triumph that ended a drought.
Stephen Fleming overpowered the likes of Richard Dawson and Jonathan Trott, as well as Tom Moody and Justin Langer. He guided CSK to 10 Indian Premier League (IPL) finals, winning 5 titles (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023). Including the Champions League T20, he reached 11 major global T20 finals and won 7 total championships.
He also coached their sister franchises in Major League Cricket (Texas Super Kings) and South Africa's SA20 (Joburg Super Kings). However, he did not win a trophy in MLC or SA20.
