Maynard hoping to be coaching success

Matthew Maynard hopes to be a success as he takes up the role of England`s assistant coach. He flew out to join the England one-day side in Namibia fresh from captaining an England side to victory in the Hong Kong Sixes.

Maynard, who accepted the coaching role in September, is aware of the need to establish his reputation as an England coach, after having failed to achieve his potential in the international arena. In four Test matches, his highest score was 35, and in his 12 one-day innings, he scored only 156 runs in total. But he remained upbeat about his current role, and was also confident that his prowess on the county scene for Glamorgan means the players hold him in esteem.

"I know the England boys respect me as a player," he told the South Wales Echo. but my ultimate goal is for the guys to respect me as a coach by the end of the tour. I might have failed as an international player, but hopefully I will succeed as a coach. I have been waiting for this tour because it is going to be a new and exciting challenge for me."

Maynard, 39, was keen to avoid commenting on the Zimbabwe situation. But he said: "We have got to take it all in our stride. We are only there for a short period of time to play cricket and straight out again."

Although Maynard has been taken on with one-day matches in mind, he revealed that he had been looking at the longer version of the game. "My work has not just been confined with the one-day games in mind," he said. "I have done a lot of work with Marcus Trescothick, but that has been more to do with the Test matches. Marcus had a batting fault with his stance and pick-up towards the end of the summer. We have had three weeks of quality work and he is delighted where he is in his game."