Gatting in line for academy job

Mike Gatting is in the running for a top job at the England Cricket Board's new showpiece national academy at Bisham Abbey.

The former England and Middlesex captain has emerged as a serious contender to play a leading role in the development of a project seen as crucial to England's Test future.

The sheer scale, ambition and importance of the venture, scheduled to be opened in the autumn, has captured Gatting's interest five months after he was axed from the prestigious coaching director's post at Middlesex.

Since then 43 year-old Gatting has gone back to the drawing board to obtain the necessary coaching certificates. He recently passed the ECB's prized level three coaching badge and is now planning to take level four, a qualification that would make him one of the world's 10 best qualified coaches and an eminently suitable candidate for employment when Bisham's refurbishment is completed.

Gatting, soon to start work at a coaching centre in Cambridge and involved in a business enterprise to establish another in Buckinghamshire, said: "I have always been interested in the national academy idea and would very much like to get involved.

"The opening of a national academy can only be of help to English cricket. Much depends on how it is set up but it promises to offer a wonderful grounding for the best talent in the country."

Gatting probably lacks the experience to be appointed academy director but he could land one of the other staff jobs now he has the coaching qualifications to add to his vast playing knowledge gained over a period of 25 years at Test and county levels.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb believes the academy will surpass even Australia's famed Adelaide centre of excellence.