England coaching job excites Lehmann

The former Australia batsman Darren Lehmann is interested in taking up the England coach's job, which is up for grabs after Peter Moores was sacked last week. He would consider any offer from the ECB after Shane Warne had said the England board should consider Lehmann ahead of the Ashes.

"Yes, I'm interested," Lehmann told the Sun-Herald. "It's something I would definitely consider. Warne is a very good friend of mine and he knows what I want to do. You would never knock back an opportunity like that."

Lehmann is not the first Australian whose name has been brought up for discussion, with Tom Moody also being linked to the position. South Africa's Graham Ford, the Kent director of cricket, has also expressed an interest in filling the post.

Lehmann, 38, played 27 Tests and 117 ODIs for Australia and also captained Yorkshire during his stint as an overseas player from 1997 to 2006. He has been an assistant at Australia's Academy and has been signed up as coach by the Deccan Chargers for the second IPL season.

However, Lehmann said he was keen to take up bigger challenges. "I'm working with second-stringers at the moment and anyone would want to work with players at that international level," he said. "I'll talk to them if they want to talk to me."

England will not appoint a new head coach for the upcoming tour of the West Indies. Andrew Strauss, who replaced Kevin Pietersen as captain, will be supported in the Caribbean by Andy Flower, England's assistant coach, Phil Neale, the team operations manager, and other specialist coaches and support staff. Although no official interim appointment has been made, Cricinfo understands that Flower will be the senior man in the coaching hierarchy and has been named, along with Strauss, as one of the three selectors on tour.