Neil Killeen emerges as leading candidate for England fast bowling coach role

GEORGE DOBELL - EXCLUSIVE: Killeen, the Durham bowling coach, has worked with Ben Stokes and Mark Wood at county level

George Dobell | 05/01/2023 at 12:39

Neil Killeen has emerged as a leading candidate for the role of elite fast bowling coach with the ECB.

The role, which involves a lot of travel with the England squads, was previously held by Jon Lewis, who was recently appointed as head coach of the England women's team.

Killeen, the Durham bowling coach, has previously worked with England through various series as well as playing a part in the progress of Durham's England bowlers such as Mark Wood, Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse.

He also stood in as head coach at Durham towards the end of the 2022 season between the departure of James Franklin and the arrival of Ryan Campbell and has been bowling coach with Northern Superchargers.

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^{Killeen, pictured alongside Mark Wood at Durham (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

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^{Kabir Ali is bowling coach at Yorkshire (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

He recently travelled to the UAE as part of the Lions training squad which also included the likes of James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, who were preparing for the Pakistan tour, and Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood who were stepping up their rehabilitation after injury.

Other candidates being interviewed include Kabir Ali, who is the Yorkshire bowling coach, and Simon Cook, who is with Kent but is currently with the Young Lions squad training for their tour of Australia. Only just over a year ago, Kabir was coaching with the South Asian Cricket Academy and became the first person to come through the scheme and sign for a first-class county.

The interview panel is understood to include managing director of England's men's cricket, Rob Key, ECB performance director, Mo Bobat and Richard Dawson.