Gillespie confirms talks with Strauss over England role

Sport360 staff 02:45 23/05/2015
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  • Prime candidate: Gillespie.

    Jason Gillespie has held talks over England’s vacancy – but insists he is just one of a number of contenders.

    Yorkshire coach Gillespie was labelled “one of the candidates” by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new director of cricket Andrew Strauss earlier this month as the former England captain seeks to appoint a permanent successor to Peter Moores before the Ashes.

    Gillespie, for his part, has labelled Yorkshire his “dream job” but reports surfaced on Wednesday that the ECB had been in touch, and Gillespie confirmed that on Friday.

    “I’ve spoken to Andrew and the ECB about the vacant position,” he told Sky Sports News.

    “They it made it very clear they’re chatting to a number of people of interest, so they’ll let us know what the process is in due course. At this stage there’s nothing more to say. It was face-to-face (with Strauss), and we had a good chat and we’ll see what pans out from there.”

    Meanwhile, veteran Aussie allrounder Shane Watson says winning a first Ashes away series since 2001 was a huge motivator for the senior members of the Australia squad heading to England this year.

    Watson, 33, is one of several members in the squad, who are looking at their last chance of playing in a triumphant Ashes away campaign.

    Captain Michael Clarke 34, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, 37, and paceman Mitchell Johnson, 33, have all played in unsuccessful Ashes tours.

    Paceman Peter Siddle, 30, has had two fruitless Ashes campaigns in England and 37-year-old opener Chris Rogers and 35-year-old quick Ryan Harris one each.

    “One of the last final things to really tick off for a few of us older guys is an Ashes win away from home,” Watson said.

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