text: Andy Flower, England team director who guided sides to three Ashes triumphs and the world No 1 spot, will not be interfering in any way with the work of the next director of England cricket. The England Cricket Board gave Flower the confusing title of technical director of elite coaching after he renegotiated a new role at significantly lower pay after resigning as team boss following the last Ashes whitewash. This has led to speculation that Flower’s continuing role on the ECB staff would conflict with the job description of the new appointment. Former England team director Andy Flower is now technical director of elite coaching at the ECB . But effectively Flower is now running the England cricket academy at Loughborough and working with young players in a coaching role, and liaising with counties. And it’s understood he has no wish to get involved at England senior level again or become entangled in the politics. Those politics have Kevin Pietersen at centre stage as ever. But Flower, having closed one chapter in his life and fully moved on to his behind-the-scenes Loughborough role, is highly unlikely to speak out about KP now. Meanwhile, Pietersen, who is using social media app Periscope to film himself getting a sun tan or whistling, continues to dominate the PR battle against the ECB, who botched his axing and have totally mismanaged the fall-out since. Kevin Pietersen is back playing cricket for Surrey in the hope of winning back a Test spot in the England side . It looks only a matter of time before Manuel Pellegrini is sacked as Manchester City manager. And his son Juan, who is living in England, isn’t waiting for the axe to fall on his father, having already made plans to take his wife and four children back to Chile. However, Juan’s return is purely for family reasons with his wife, who has just had twins, wanting family support to look after four kids who are under the age of five. Only the ECB’s hopeless media team could launch the domestic NatWest T20 Blast, which needs all the promotional hype it can muster to compete with the IPL and Big Bash, on the same day as an England Test match. And only the ECB, having brought in former Ashes hero Freddie Flintoff to drum up publicity for the launch, could then decide he shouldn’t speak to national newspapers. An ECB spokesman said the date wasn’t ideal but they were constrained by the domestic and international schedule. And the print media snub was due to the ECB having limited time with Flintoff. Andrew Flintoff (left) shares a joke with Warwickshire and England's Chris Woakes at the T20 Blast launch . There was a player for all 18 counties present at the T20 Blast launch on Thursday . It can cause problems in football when agents represent players and managers. But the ECB have no concerns that former county cricketer Luke Sutton represents both Jimmy Anderson and England head coach Peter Moores. Likewise, the FA say they have no problems with England manager Roy Hodgson’s agent being Leon Angel who also looks after emerging international Danny Rose. Coincidentally, West Indies coach Phil Simmons is paid well enough to need the advice of David Manasseh, whose Stellar agency clients include the world’s most expensive footballer Gareth Bale. Sepp’s no messiah . Sepp Blatter’s smooth procession to a ridiculous fifth term as FIFA president continued at the Central American CONCACAF Congress in the Bahamas. Such was the lack of democracy Blatter’s three rivals weren’t even given the opportunity to address delegates. One delegate, Osiris Guzman of the Dominican Republic, was so sycophantic towards Blatter he spoke of him in the same terms as Moses, Jesus Christ and Nelson Mandela. God help us. Andrew Strauss is part of Sky’s top-heavy team of cricket pundits for the Ashes series. But that commitment should not prove an obstacle to him becoming director of England Cricket, a position for which he is one of the front-runners. Strauss is one of the weak links in the commentary box - Sir Ian Botham is the other - and looks far more suited to be a Hugh Morris-style leader of England cricket if that’s what the ECB decide they’re looking for. Former England captain Andrew Strauss is a front-runner to becoming director of England Cricket . Such is the friendship between Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove and Sir Ian Botham, who are each building houses on St Kitts, that the new restaurant in the Hilton Hotel that is part of the Ageas Bowl outside Southampton is to be called Beefy’s despite Botham having no association with Hampshire.
target: Andy Flower guided England to three Ashes wins over Australia .
  Former team director also led England to the world No 1 ICC ranking .
  Andrew Strauss is a front-runner to becoming director of England Cricket .