Ahead of today’s Hundred Men’s Draft, London Spirit have announced the appointment of Trevor Bayliss as Interim Men’s Head Coach following the tragic passing of Shane Warne.
Further planned tributes to Shane will be announced shortly as the game looks at ways to remember one of the greatest ever cricketers and personalities.
Bayliss will link up with Eoin Morgan once again after the pair famously led England to the 2019 ICC Men’s World Cup in a Lord’s Final against New Zealand that no one will ever forget. The World Cup triumph was a key highlight of a successful four-year stint as coach of England men’s white and red ball sides.
One of the most successful coaches in the history of white ball cricket, Bayliss coached Sydney Sixers to the inaugural Big Bash title in 2011-12 as well as winning the IPL twice with Kolkata Knight Riders. After stepping down from England he has coached Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash. He has also previously coached the Sri Lanka men’s national side from 2007-2011.
Bayliss was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours for his services to cricket.
"We were so lucky to work with Shane last year and we hope that the team will play in a style that he would have been proud of this summer"
Trevor Bayliss said, “It is obviously very bittersweet to take the role given the circumstances. It is an honour to try and build on the work Warnie started. The side knew what he and Eoin were trying to build and I hope we can do that this year.”
Fraser Stewart London Spirit General Manager said, “This is a situation none of us ever wanted to be in and all of our thoughts remain with Shane’s family and what is such a heart-breaking time.
"We were so lucky to work with Shane last year and we hope that the team will play in a style that he would have been proud of this summer. Trevor and Eoin and completely committed to that and we hope they can give our fans a reason to smile.”
Bayliss will take the role for one year initially after emerging as the successful candidate after a number of candidates were interviewed for the role.
London Spirit have the coveted first pick in today’s Draft. They will be looking to pick up two overseas picks to complement a side already housing captain Eoin Morgan, Aussie star Glenn Maxwell and England internationals Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence and Mark Wood.
Tickets for The Hundred are on sale to anyone signed up at thehundred.com with tickets going on general sale on 20 April.