David Saker is heading straight back into England colours, this time as fast-bowling coach for the Ashes that starts in Perth just before Christmas. It is a job he knows inside-out; he first took it on in 2010, helped steer the away win that winter and has dipped in and out of the set-up ever since.
England confirmed on Thursday that Saker will link up with the squad for the Lions warm-up match in Perth and stay on once the Test series gets under way. Tim Southee, who has been doing the role since the start of the year, departs after the opening Test to honour an ILT20 deal. The pair will work together for the first fortnight before Saker takes sole charge.
Paul Collingwood will remain at home for personal reasons, so the rest of Brendon McCullum’s back-room team is unchanged. Saker’s official badge reads “Specialist Skills Consultant”, though in reality his brief is simple: get the quicks humming and pass on local know-how.
Short-term, horses-for-courses appointments are almost the norm now. England borrowed Mike Hussey for the T20 World Cup in Australia, Kieron Pollard for the Caribbean version and South Africa called in Stuart Broad for their World Test Championship final at Lord’s earlier this year. Saker, an Australian with a foot in both camps, fits the mould.
Selectors have been talking for months about travelling with a “battery” of pace. Assuming no late niggles, they will take the fastest bunch England have assembled in modern times – Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts all on the flight. The Lions shadow tour means extra options such as Sonny Baker, Josh Hull and Matt Fisher are only a short hop away.
Managing director Rob Key could barely hide his anticipation when he spoke in September. “We’ve worked so hard to get to this point,” Key said. “It is the last little step. So we get this bit right and hopefully we have every option available to us going into that First Test in Perth.”
Saker has already spent time with several of the attack. During last summer’s home Ashes he was seen chatting through wrist positions with Tongue at Lord’s and tweaking Atkinson’s run-up at the Oval. Those relationships should make the inevitable rush of a nine-week tour slightly smoother.
Away from leather and seam, England have also rehired mental-skills specialist Gilbert Enoka for the build-up. The New Zealander made his name with the All Blacks and coined their much-quoted “no dickheads policy”. He linked up with the Test side earlier this year and is currently travelling with the one-day group in New Zealand.
White-ball captain Harry Brook sounded impressed. “He’s awesome,” Brook said of Enoka. “He’s been around the Test side a little bit and he’s a gr” – the sentence trailed off as Brook laughed, though the sentiment was clear enough.
Australia remains the hardest tour in English cricket. Since Mike Gatting’s vintage 1986-87 trip, only Andrew Strauss’s 2010-11 squad have lifted the urn on Australian soil. Saker was in the dressing-room then, too, and knows precisely what works: hitters of the deck, bowlers who stay fit and enough batting runs to allow them to attack.
This winter he gets another crack at the same problem, armed with raw pace rather than swing. It is not a guarantee of success, yet England believe the mix of familiar faces and fresh legs gives them their best chance in a decade. Now it is down to Archer’s elbow, Wood’s knees and a coach whose accent still betrays the opposition to see whether that faith is justified.
