Saker returns to England set-up as Ashes fast-bowling coach

David Saker has been appointed as England's fast-bowling coach for the upcoming Ashes series, reprising a role he has held regularly over the last 15 years.

Saker's appointment comes with confirmation that Tim Southee, England's current fast-bowling coach, will leave the squad after the first Test in Perth to play in the ILT20.

Saker and Southee will work together for the warm-up fixture against the Lions in Perth as well as the opening Test, before Saker will take on the role himself. It has also been confirmed that Paul Collingwood, who has been absent from the coaching staff across the summer due to personal reasons, will not be part of the touring party. The rest of the support staff remains unchanged.

Saker has long been a coach that England have turned to. He was the fast-bowling coach from 2010 to 2015, and played a key role when England last won an away Ashes in 2010-11. More recently, he was brought back into the fold for their T20 World Cup victory in 2022 and for the Ashes and ODI World Cup in 2023.

The Australian's official title will be "Specialist Skills Consultant" but he has been brought in specifically to work with the fast-bowling group and to provide local knowledge of how to succeed Down Under.

It continues a theme of English, and world wide, coaching appointments where teams opt to hire on a short term basis to provide specific insight into the conditions they are about to face. England themselves hired Mike Hussey and Kieron Pollard for the recent T20 World Cups in Australia and the Caribbean respectively, while earlier this year South Africa hired Stuart Broad as a consultant for their World Test Championship final at Lord's.

While Saker's appointment comes at the eleventh hour, it is a continuation of England's long-term plan to take a "battery" of fast bowlers to Australia in an effort to win only their second away Ashes since 1987.

England will take arguably their fastest ever seam attack to Australia, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts in the squad. Furthermore, with the England Lions also touring at the same time, they will be able to call upon the likes of Sonny Baker, Josh Hull and Matt Fisher if they so wish.

Speaking in September, managing director Rob Key spoke of his excitement for a bowling group "on the up", with, subject to any late fitness issues, England taking a full-strength attack.

"We've worked so hard to get to this point," Key said. "It is the last little step. So we get this bit right and hopefully we have every option available to us going into that First Test in Perth."

England also confirmed that Gilbert Enoka, the mental skills coach who is most famous for coining the All Blacks famous "no dickheads policy", will work with the squad in the lead up to the first Test.

Enoka, who lives in Christchurch, worked with the Test squad for the first time earlier this year, and is currently with the white-ball team as they prepare for their series against New Zealand.

"He's awesome," white-ball captain Harry Brook said of Enoka. "He's been around the Test side a little bit and he's a great bloke. He brings a lot of knowledge to the mental side of the game which is a vital part of cricket and professional sport. To have him in the ranks, just to be able to pull for a chat for five or 10 minutes is awesome."

Ahead of this three-match T20 and ODI series, Brook also spoke of a desire to change his white-ball approach, saying that he'd been "disappointed" with his recent performances in the shorter formats.

"I feel like I've been premeditating quite a lot," Brook said to talkSPORT. "And there's one goal for me this series is just to try and play on instinct as much as possible.

"When I'm at my best, I'm hitting straight and then I'm adapting to line and length."

Brook made just one white-ball half century for England across the summer from 11 innings, although his average remained above 30 and his strike-rate was healthy across both formats.

New Zealand cricket announced that Saturday's opening T20 at Hagley Oval will be a sell-out. It is a coup for the series, given the cold evening weather in October and a clash with a domestic rugby final featuring Canterbury that had threatened to hurt ticket sales.

"It's pretty outstanding," New Zealand's captain Mitchell Santner said. "Hopefully we can put on a bit of a show and it'll be a great contest."

Santner also announced his XI for the match, with himself and Rachin Ravindra returning, while Bevon Jacobs, Zak Foulkes and Devon Conway miss out from the squad of 14.

New Zealand XI 1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Mark Chapman, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Tim Robinson, 5 Michael Bracewell, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Jimmy Neesham, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Jacob Duffy