Steven Finn has emerged as a leading candidate to land the role of England selector.
Finn is understood to have the backing of head coach Brendon McCullum for the national selector job which became available when Luke Wright stood down at the end of the Ashes tour.
The ECB advertised the role in January and received 81 applications. These were trimmed to around 10 realistic candidates this week and the shortlist will be cut even further to three or four. The ECB hopes to make an appointment before the first Test against New Zealand on June 4.
Finn played 36 Tests, 69 ODIs and 21 T20s for England and the job specification stated the need for international experience. The 37-year-old recently retired which means he has a relationship with many of the current team. A persistent knee injury forced him to end an 18-year career for Middlesex, Sussex and England in 2023.
He is a former team-mate of McCullum’s when they played in the T20 Blast together for Middlesex in 2017. He was also smashed all over Wellington by McCullum’s New Zealand side in the 2015 World Cup, a mauling that led to a crisis in confidence but one he recovered from to star in that summer’s Ashes.
Since retiring Finn has built up his media career working as a summariser for Test Match Special and was in Australia last winter as part of TNT’s coverage of the Ashes.
If he is offered the England job, which is believed to pay about £150,000, he will have to give up his promising career at the BBC where he is highly regarded and is being groomed to move from a summariser to commentator role in the near future.
McCullum’s support gives Finn a boost but ultimately the decision will be made by Rob Key, the England director of cricket. Finn has on his side a good playing career as a bowler for England – he took 125 Test wickets at an average of 30 – and recent grounding in the county game.
He is diligent, hard working and a popular figure in the game but the questions will be can he challenge McCullum and would his appointment look a little cosy at a time when England are under pressure after the Ashes defeat?
Darren Gough is understood to be another candidate although Ravi Bopara, who was also in the running, has pulled out. The former England opener and Sky presenter Nick Knight is also believed to be a contender.
McCullum is slated to arrive in England around May 22, in time for a training camp at Loughborough with the Test squad before the New Zealand series.
Unless an appointment is made shortly, the new selector is unlikely to have much input into the first Test squad of the summer. Key this week appointed four members to his new County Insight Group, a body established to reconnect England with the domestic game. Four county head coaches have been drafted in: Derbyshire’s Mickey Arthur, Worcestershire’s Alan Richardson, Yorkshire’s Anthony McGrath and Richard Dawson, the head coach of Glamorgan. They will advise the selection panel made up of Key, the new selector, Ben Stokes or Harry Brook (depending on whether it is a Test or white-ball squad), McCullum and Andrew Flintoff, the Lions coach.