LONDON, May 17: South Africa’s former fast bowler Allan Donald is being lined up as the England team’s new bowling coach, after it was confirmed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that the current incumbent, Kevin Shine, would be reverting to an administrative role at the national academy in Loughborough.

Responding to an article in The Daily Telegraph, John Carr, the ECB’s Director of Cricket, said: “When the ECB recruited Shine in early 2006 it was always intended to be largely a Loughborough-based role leading the ECB fast bowling programme, which involves overseeing and managing the development of elite fast bowlers at senior and age group levels.”

Shine was a full-time member of Duncan Fletcher’s management team during the Ashes and the World Cup, but he was significantly outshone by his predecessor in the role, Troy Cooley, who returned to his native Australia to help marshal a 5-0 Ashes whitewash and an unbeaten defence of the World Cup.

The manner in which Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait came of age for their country was a testament to Cooley’s achievements, and magnified the extent of Shine’s failings.—Agencies