Buchanan to take on England role

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting and John Buchanan

Buchanan and Ricky Ponting celebrate Australia's 2007 World Cup triumph

Former Australia coach John Buchanan will take up a short-term consultancy role with the England and Wales Cricket Board at the end of June.

The 56-year-old, who left his job with Australia after winning the 2007 World Cup, will spend 10 days with the ECB.

He will work with England's player development programme, mainly the Lions, Under-19s and the Under-16s.

The ECB insists Buchanan "will not be involved with the England team" ahead of the first Ashes Test on 8 July.

Buchanan became Australia coach in 1999 and enjoyed a successful eight-year spell, winning the World Cup twice, the Ashes in 2001, 2003 and 2007 as well as guiding his side to a world-record 16 consecutive Test victories.

Since leaving the Australia job, he has been working as a coaching ambassador for Cricket Australia and was director of cricket operations with the Kolkata Knights during this season's Indian Premier League.

"Both myself and the ECB have indicated that in terms of their elite programme I could fulfil a role," Buchanan told Cricinfo.

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"I will fly over on 28 June, have a good look at the elite programme, and sit down with them to see what potentially lies ahead. This trip will be largely about looking at the coaching programmes."

Buchanan's visit will coincide with the Lions match against Australia at Worcester starting on 1 July, just four days before the first Ashes Test in Cardiff.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get over there and look at the general set-up," said Buchanan.

"I think it's fair to say that there has been a fair amount of interest from both parties, and I suppose the situation will become clearer in early July."

The ECB are playing down his possible influence with regard to information about his former team ahead of the Ashes and England Twenty20 captain Paul Collingwood told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm not sure how much he will be giving away to be honest.

"John Buchanan has got a lot of experience in coaching and the way he goes about things and the ECB obviously feels it's important to tap into a guy like him."