England great Geoffrey Boycott said he feared "everything will stay the same" were Andrew Strauss put in charge of reviving the country's cricket fortunes, as speculation continued about a role in the national set-up for former Australia paceman Jason Gillespie. Former captain Strauss appears to be the front-runner to fill the new position of England director of cricket, a post created by the England and Wales Cricket Board last month following Paul Downton's sacking as managing director.
Strauss's fellow ex-England skippers Michael Vaughan and Alec Stewart have also expressed an interest in the role. But Vaughan appeared to rule himself out after being severely critical of the current set-up in a column for Monday's Daily Telegraph following England's defeat by the West Indies in the third Test in Barbados on Sunday.
Boycott, briefly England captain but best-known as an obdurate opening batsman, said the 38-year-old Strauss - who for several years was current skipper Alastair Cook's partner at the top of the order - was too close to the present regime to make the major changes needed. "We have a cautious captain (Alastair Cook) and a cautious coach (Peter Moores). If it is Strauss, he's the same," Boycott told BBC Radio's Test Match Special. "He likes Cook, so he's going to go with Cook and everything stays the same," added Boycott.
"Nothing changes, they'll just go on with the same people. Andrew Strauss will come in, Cook's his mate and everything will go on just the same. Sad." Incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves takes up his post having previously held a similar position at Yorkshire, where he installed Gillespie as coach. Last season Yorkshire, under Gillespie, won English cricket's first-class County Championship and talk that the one-time scourge of many an England top-order might replace Moores intensified when he turned down an approach from South Australia to become their coach.
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