Friday 22 February 2019 15:14, UK
England's new director of cricket Ashley Giles tells Sky Sports he intends to appoint one coach for all formats to replace outgoing head coach Trevor Bayliss.
With Bayliss' tenure with England due to end following the end of the home Ashes in September, Giles had the option to split the role between red and white-ball cricket.
However, the 45-year-old believes one person to oversee the formats with three assistant coaches underneath them is the structure that would work best.
"Over the last seven or eight weeks it has become clearer in my mind and I am 99.9 per cent sure that I see one man in charge," Giles told Sky Sports Cricket pundit Nick Knight.
"I think that works better for the culture and the messages and consistency. We have to face that there is a shelf life for coaches, whether there is one or two, it could be four or five years and I would prefer one man to do it.
"Underneath that I see a perhaps for flat structure of three assistant coaches all working together, which for me lessens the workload of if you have just one assistant coach.
"When I worked under Andy Flower we imagined that two different squads would develop, there would be white-ball specialists and red-ball specialists and we have seen the opposite now.
"If you have mostly the same players in those environments and different voices coming in at the top all the time I think that can be quite challenging.
"That guy [the head coach] has to set the tone on the culture, the discipline and on how he wants things to run."
Giles acknowledged the heavy workload one coach for all formats would undertake, with England due to play red-ball and white-ball series away in New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka between November 2019 - March 2020.
While accepting individuals would need to take time away from the squad over the year, Giles believes it would be an opportunity for the assistant coaches to step up.
"We are going to have to face the fact that the top guys are going to have some time away," he explained. "We can't possibly think he could do every series going forward and then the importance of the three guys underneath comes in, it gives them the opportunity to go up and lead.
"The last bit of jigsaw in my mind is how you work those assistants, do they operate specialists in the different forms, and that is a way of keeping it fresh underneath.
"Whether it be a red and white-ball specialist batting and bowling coach, it is probably the last bit to become clear. It is challenging but that stresses the importance of the people that work around the head coach."
