Ashley Giles not keen on having split coaches

ECB's director of men's cricket is hopeful of naming Trevor Bayliss's replacement before England's tour of New Zealand late in October © Getty

Ashley Giles is hopeful a new England head coach will be in the hot seat before the tour of New Zealand in October.

Speaking at Lord's on the day England's central contracts were announced, the ECB's director of men's cricket said the search for Trevor Bayliss' successor can begin "in earnest" now that the summer's international season was over. No shortlist has been compiled as of yet but that will be rectified in the next month or so. If a replacement is not found in time - the team fly out to New Zealand in October for the five-match T20I series which begins on November 1 - an interim will be in charge.

At present, there are no plans to advertise the job as those adequately qualified for the job are known to the ECB. Nevertheless, the search will be far and wide.

"In terms of process, it has started in earnest," said Giles. "There are a lot of candidates out there and, at the moment, I'm going through the process of trying to gather some interest from parties but then have some longer telephone calls with these guys or face-to-faces until we get to a point where we can put together a shortlist. There are some strong candidates out there.

"There's some internal, there's some English and there's some very good overseas. I'm looking forward to it and it's my first appointment because it's my first major one."

Not for the first time, Giles confirmed there will be no split coaches for Test and limited overs. That, in part, is because of his experience as coach of England's ODI and T20I sides between 2012 and 2014. At the time, Andy Flower was in charge of the Test side and, for the outset, the balance of power towards the Zimbabwean meant Giles did not feel comfortable fulfilling his role to the best of his ability.

Instead, a team of assistants will be on hand to assist with coaching duties if and when the new head coach requires time off. Such a measure would ease the burden across the board and generally make the role more attractive to marquee coaches who are able to take on Twenty20 franchise jobs and still spend adequate time at home with their families.

"I understand the chat around split coaches and it's not only because of my experiences," said Giles, explaining his resistance to split coaches. "With two head coaches, we've got a group of players playing across formats."

"One might be a really mature experienced coach - one younger, less. One form's flying, one's not. There's a pull over Stokes: 'Is he going to be rested this T20 series or not?' There's a lot of conflict there straightaway. Suddenly because this team's winning, they like this bloke a bit more and it might be nothing more than they're just winning. There are a number of things there that are going to give me a headache quite quickly."

"Having the one voice is important, but accepting that one voice is going to need some time away. And if you've got three very good assistants, it's an opportunity to develop them as leaders. It's a consistent voice for sorts because the players will know them. That's how I see it."

A number of different names have been banded around for the head coach role. They range from those currently in the set-up, such as batting coach Graham Thorpe and bowling coach Chris Silverwood, to other Englishmen within domestic cricket such as Surrey's director of cricket Alec Stewart.

Despite wanting to look at homegrown options, Giles could well appoint another overseas coach. However, some figures like Kiwis Mike Hesson and Stephen Fleming, and Australian Tom Moody, would have to forgo their franchise Twenty20 commitments to take on the role.

Other candidates include Graham Ford (currently coach of Ireland) and Mickey Arthur, who was let go by Pakistan after the World Cup and, on Thursday, was appointed coach of the Central Stags in New Zealand's Super Smash T20 Competition.