Stephen Fleming will join England's T20I side in Manchester as part of a flying visit from New Zealand as he looks to establish roots as the incoming Test head coach.
Fleming arrived in the UK on Monday for a circa two-week trip that will involve sorting his backroom staff and addressing the pull on multi-format players with his good friend, business partner and limited-overs coach Brendon McCullum.
That includes Test vice-captain and limited overs skipper Harry Brook, who takes charge of the upcoming T20Is against Sri Lanka after the selectors considered resting him for the three-match series.
Following his appointment as McCullum's replacement as Test coach in July, Fleming missed England's 3-0 win over Pakistan. He will catch up with Joe Root this week to dissect the series and plan ahead to December's Test tour of South Africa. He will also meet with other ECB figure-heads and get around the counties.
Fleming was already on the move on Monday as part of an initial road-trip that included visiting the ECB Performance Centre in Loughborough. He will shadow McCullum in Manchester over the weekend for England's third T20I against Sri Lanka, before heading home, where he will commentate for Sky on India's tour of New Zealand.
The pull on multi-format players has been exemplified by the last 48 hours. Six of the XI that featured in the third Edgbaston Test, including Brook, travelled down to Southampton on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the match had concluded. Likewise the coaching team, including Marcus Trescothick, who was covering for Fleming as interim.
The first half of England's upcoming winter is packed to the brim. A tri-series in Pakistan, also featuring Sri Lanka, starts on October 22, before three ODIs and five T20Is in Australia. A week after the final T20I, England begin a tour match in Durban (December 9) ahead of a three-Test tour in South Africa.
While the schedule eases in the New Year with just three ODIs against South Africa until the 2027 summer, England play two Tests in Bangladesh before the 150th Anniversary Test against Australia at the MCG in March. As such, allowances around workloads need to be made and agreed upon ahead of time.
"He was on the M1 this morning," McCullum said of Fleming's movements, speaking at the Utilita Bowl on the eve of the first T20I between England and Sri Lanka. "He was driving around the country making sure he catches up with a few people around the county scene and down at Loughbrough as well and getting around trying to get his feet under the desk.
"He'll do that pretty quickly and join up with us in Manchester and we'll have a good chance to work through a few things.
"We've got to work through our players as well. We have some multi-format players and with the schedule - Ashes and a World Cup and big series coming up - we want to make sure we have access as much as possible to the best players and be aware of workloads as well.
"The coaching structure with Flem coming in, split coaches, means we need more resources now, not less resource. So we're going to have to work through that for the next little while. Flem and I will catch up in the coming days and we'll start trying to piece all that together."
With an ODI World Cup later next year, McCullum acknowledges the compromise he will have to make, particularly with T20Is now taking a back seat until 2028.
Brook, in particular, is at the sharp end of such negotiations. Though he plays no franchise cricket overseas, his winters are often as busy as his summers. The 2025-26 'off-season', for instance, saw him play in New Zealand, Australia for the Ashes, Sri Lanka and India for the T20 World Cup between October and March.
"We thought about it," McCullum said, on giving Brook time off before the 50-over series, starting on September 22 at Chester-le-Street. He also confirmed Jofra Archer has been given the first T20I off, with Josh Tongue set to rested for the second, on Thursday.
"Yes, the schedule at times will need some massaging to make sure he's able to stay fresh. But for this series he was desperate to to lead the boys out there. And in time we'll sit down, we'll work out times where the likes of Brooky and Jof (Jofra Archer) and Tonguey (Josh Tongue) and some of the other guys will need some times where they need to freshen up and we'll do that in the next little while. But yeah, Harry, we're lucky he's committed to it."
Aneurin Donald will make his international debut at the Utilita Bowl, becoming the first Glamorgan product to represent England since Simon Jones in 2005. With Phil Salt, Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran out injured, the Derbyshire batter, who spent five years at the Utilita Bowl with Hampshire, will open the batting alongside Jos Buttler.
"He is a cricketer who has been on our radar for a long time," McCullum said. "His performances with Derby and also in the Hundred; he's got a game where he can go from ball one, which is probably quite similar to Salty, they are complementary skills with him at the top of the order.
"He's got raw power. I watched him down at Chelmsford with the Lions the other day, he took 27 off Chameera's first over. Incredible amount of talent and I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes on the big stage. It's great to be able to see him take that step up."
England XI (confirmed): Aneurin Donald, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Tom Banton, Jordan Cox, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Sonny Baker
