James led Guildford to every major trophy in British basketball

England have named Worcester head coach Paul James as their coach for August's Commonwealth Championships in India.

The former international player has had previous coaching experience within the England set-up.

He took over at Worcester following a mid-season dispute that led to his predecessor Chuck Evans and six players leaving and has turned them around.

Director of basketball Mick Donovan told BBC Hereford & Worcester: "It's fantastic news for Paul."

He continued: "He has had a life that has been dedicated to basketball. He is still fairly young to get such senior role.

"But we are absolutely thrilled to bits and it's one of the biggest stories we have had."

James helped to co-found Guildford Heat and coached them to every major trophy in British basketball.

Meanwhile, he says he wants better performances from his team ahead of Saturday's BBL clash against third-placed Glasgow Rocks.

Wolves have lost three games in recent weeks by two points or less.

"They have just added some more height to there line up in Randall Hanke, who is going to make them better," James said.

"We are still getting to know what each other can do, but we have been able to stay in games by our togetherness.

"I was disappointed not to have won on Sunday against Worthing and thought we were average at best.

"On Friday against Newcastle we played well in the first half and could not buy a basket in the second even though we had some great looks at the basket."

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