“I’m very excited to join the club and come back to Melbourne – which is home – and work with everyone involved”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

David Saker is set to leave his position as England’s bowling coach in order to become head coach of the Melbourne Renegades.

While Saker’s contract with England expires in September, he could step down before the Ashes series this summer.

Saker has come under heavy criticism as of late, especially since none of the England bowlers excelled during their disastrous World Cup campaign.

“My first three years in the job for English cricket was a bit of a fairytale,” he told the Melbourne Age. “But like most things it’s hard to keep that form up. We lost some senior players, which made it a little bit harder.”

Saker also revealed that his next goal is to become head coach of a Sheffield Shield side in Australia.

“I’m very excited to join the club and come back to Melbourne – which is home – and work with everyone involved,” Saker said. “The Big Bash League is being talked about worldwide in cricket circles and it’s great to be back working in the T20 format.”

Speaking about the decision to sign Saker, Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry said: “David is the right person to lead the club over the next two years and drive us into winning positions. David has been involved in the high-performance environment at the international level and had great success with England across all formats over the last five years. We’ll now give him time to review our list closely and work out how he wants to mould things in the months ahead.”