Jonathan Trott ends tenure as Afghanistan coach, shares England coaching prospect
Jonathan Trott ended his stint as Afghanistan coach after their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign came to an end in the group stage. After the final game against Canada, the former cricketer reflected on the journey and shared his desire to coach England someday in the future.
Afghanistan’s final T20 World Cup 2026 group stage game against Canada in Chennai was head coach Jonathan Trott’s final game in charge. Under his leadership, the Rashid Khan-led side went on to beat Pakistan and England in the ODI World Cup 2023 and stunned everyone by qualifying for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2024. However, the last two years haven’t quite gone as well as he would have liked, but Trott remains one of the key aspects behind transforming Afghanistan from underdogs to contenders.
In the meantime, the former England cricketer has also impressed in the franchise circuit, having coached Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 2024-25 and Gulf Giants in the ILT20 last year. Given his successful CV, one may wonder how long before he takes over the England head coach role. Under Brendon McCullum, the Three Lions were hammered in the last Ashes and they also suffered defeats to India and Pakistan away from home.
Would live to one day coach England: Trott
At such an hour, Trott must have been one of the contenders to replace but the 44-year-old doesn’t want to speak about that. For now, he will enjoy the rest of the T20 World Cup and once the business is done, the Cape Town-born will certainly listen to offers. In the meantime, he has also expressed his ambition to coach England someday.
“I'm not going to let you put words in my mouth,” Trott said in the press conference when asked if there’s a particular coaching job he would like to take over. “But, you know, I've really enjoyed this. I don't know what the future holds. Maybe I have a couple of days off and see how it goes. And I look forward to seeing how the rest of the World Cup goes. I wish we were still here and able to play in the next round.
“I am very proud of the way I played my career, and always like to see the England side do well. I'd love to one day, hopefully, have the opportunity to coach a team that you hold so dear to your heart. There are a lot of people that I'm sure would love to do that job. So yeah, we'll have to see. But I just want to enjoy my coaching. And, you know, I've certainly enjoyed the last couple of years here,” he added.