England set to appoint Australian Marcus North as new national selector

Share articleMarcus North looks set to become the first Australian to help pick the England men’s Test team after emerging as firm favourite to become the new national selector. North appears certain to be appointed as the surprise choice for a role vacated by Luke Wright from a short-list that included Steven Finn and Darren Gough. The Durham director of cricket will take up his new role immediately and will be part of a selection panel that will attempt to pick up the pieces from the winter’s Ashes debacle by naming a squad strong enough to defeat New Zealand in a three-Test series starting next month. And North will immediately have to run the rule over two of his own Durham players with Emilio Gay and Ben McKinney among the favourites to replace Zak Crawley, who will almost certainly lose his place at the top of the order for the first Test at Lord’s on June 4. England have had plenty of coaches from overseas, including an Australian in Trevor Bayliss, but never before has a former player with the traditional ‘old enemy’ been welcomed into the selection fold. North, 46, played 21 Tests for Australia as a batter and off-spinner and appeared in two Ashes series, in 2009 and 2010-11, before making his name as a coach and director of cricket. But the West Australian has a long affiliation with England, playing for six counties, including Durham, and being in charge of cricket in the north-east for the last eight years. He has also worked with the Northern Superchargers — now Sunrisers Leeds — in The Hundred. North has lived in the area for more than 25 years and, since he succeeded Geoff Cook in 2018, has earned himself a reputation as a champion of the domestic game and an impressive operator with a county who have a good record in producing England players. The news, first revealed by the Telegraph, may raise eyebrows in some quarters but it is a sensible choice by England from a field that also included Nick Knight, and one that will go some way towards building bridges with counties disillusioned with the England regime. There is also more chance of North having the experience to ‘challenge’ what is perceived post-Ashes to be an England setup that is too cosy, even though he is close to England Test captain Ben Stokes and has worked in The Hundred with limited-overs leader Harry Brook and Lions coach Andrew Flintoff. Finn was a particularly strong candidate and is believed to have been the runner-up in the selector race, but his appointment would have been something of a gamble as he went straight from playing into the media and has no experience in selection. North, who came second to Rob Key when England named their managing director in 2022, should in theory have more power than a man he placed in Wright, who had the title of England selector rather than the ‘national’ tag vacated by Ed Smith five years ago. Former Sussex and England batter Wright stepped down after the Ashes to spend more time with his family after growing tired of the amount of travelling involved. North will now join Stokes, coach Brendon McCullum and Key in picking their team for Lord’s that is expected to still be similar to the one humbled 4-1 by Australia with the exception of a new opening batter. It could be named as early as next week. Durham were approached for comment by The Athletic. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms