David Saker agrees to be England’s fast bowling coach for Ashes

David Saker is to work as England’s fast bowling coach throughout the red-ball summer, reprising the role he took during the successful Ashes campaigns of 2010-11 and 2013. The Australian, who is with the white-ball squad in Bangladesh, has agreed a short-term deal after being approached by Ben Stokes during last year’s T20 World Cup.

“I don’t think I’ll do much Test cricket, but I’m doing the Ashes,” he said. “Ben said: ‘I’d like to get you involved in the Ashes.’ Rob Key had already floated it a little bit, but being so busy I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to do it. Once Stokesy pushed it, it made it an easy decision. I said yes straight away because of the magnitude of the occasion. I’ve been involved in Ashes with both parties and the cricket is as exciting as it gets. It’s the biggest Test event.”

The 56-year-old was England’s fast bowling coach between 2010 and 2015, during which time they won the Ashes in Australia, successfully defended them at home and won a series in India for the first and only time since 1984-85. He then fulfilled a similar role for Australia from 2016 to 2019.

“Working with England the first time was so much fun,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to do the Ashes with this group because they are the best team in the world to watch at the moment.

“To win Ashes and big series you need a good battery of fast bowlers and that is definitely the case about England. You can say the same about the Australians, but playing on your home patch is always an advantage for a bowling group. It’s exciting if we can have Jofra [Archer] and [Mark] Wood available. Whether you play them together is another thing, but you need that pace against the Australians. The thing those sorts of