Heads were always going to roll after such as disastrous Ashes tour, but we were expecting the England set up to concentrate on the players who let the side down rather than the coach who was let down by the players. Andy Flower stood down from his role as England team director yesterday but he’s expected to say within the England set up, possibly in role based at the ECB’s Loughborough academy.

For the time being he remains a member of the selectors committee so he will be part of the discussions surrounding Kevin Pietersen’s future as an England international. England are going to announce their squad for the World Twenty20 competition and for next month’s West Indies tour. Pietersen will be keen to get an answer on his future as the 2014 IPL auction takes place on Feb 12 and Pietersen will be able to command more money if he’s available for the whole tournament.

Flower has backed captain Alastair Cook but his future will depend on who is brought in to replace Flower as England’s head coach. Ashley Giles will remain one-day coach and he could establish himself as a contender for the top job if England perform well in the upcoming one day internationals against West Indies.

The outgoing head coach set out his position in a statement: “Following the recent very disappointing Ashes defeat it is clear to me that this is now time for England cricket, led by Alastair Cook, to rebuild with a new set of values and goals,” said Flower. “The opportunity to start with a clean slate and begin to instil methods to ensure England cricket is moving in the right direction will be an incredibly exciting challenge for someone but I do not feel I am in a position to undertake that challenge.”

The ECB has not yet announced a short list of contenders for the job but we’re expecting Gary Kirsten, who took South Africa to number 1, New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming who coached Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Tom Moody to be at the top of the list.