James Foster joins Northern Superchargers as first indigenous coach of The Hundred

James Foster looking to make his mark

Former England wicket-keeper James Foster will coach Northern Superchargers in the second edition of The Hundred.  

While the men's version of the tournament last year had foreign coaches as the heads of all the teams, the Superchargers have broken the norm with Foster becoming the first local boss.

Foster will succeed Darren Lehmann, who quit the head coach's position in January this year. 

'It’s a great opportunity' 

In conversation with PA news agency and ESPNcricinfo, the former English international opened up on being the first and only homegrown coach in The Hundred as of now. 

"I’m incredibly proud to be the first English coach, it’s a great opportunity, but it’s not necessarily about that for me."

Foster emphasised his thoughts on how it has been a great learning curve for him to work under the foreign coaches.

"I’ve been on in coaching I don’t see it. I wasn’t involved in The Hundred last year but I was asked ‘what are your thoughts about there being no English head coaches?’ and I said it’s a great thing for English coaches to work under foreign coaches. I hope the English guys involved last year were able to do that.

"I’ve deliberately tried to work under numerous people to gain experience and see other ways of doing things beyond the so-called ‘English way’," he added.

'You can tap into great minds'

Furthermore, the 42-year-old shared his experience of working with prominent overseas names and how it has added to his proficiency.

"You can tap into great minds and in my career so far I’ve worked under the likes of Stephen Fleming, Mahela Jayawardene, Trevor Bayliss, Tom Moody, Shane Bond, Mohammad Akram, Andy Flower….there’s so much diverse experience there and I’ve been very fortunate to learn off these guys.

"It was a deliberate plan. Why wouldn’t you want to try and work under some of the best foreign coaches in the world? For the last three years I’ve been working under (England Test coach) Brendon McCullum at Kolkata Knight Riders, which has been an absolute joy," Foster cited.

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