According to reports in England, Australian Trevor Bayliss has accepted the position as coach of the England cricket team.

Bayliss currently coaches New South Wales and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Reports from various publications in England, including The Guardian and The Telegraph have said Bayliss accepted the offer after director of cricket Andrew Strauss offered it to him.

Bayliss was in the running for the job last year before the ECB eventually settled on giving Peter Moores a second crack at the position.

Moores was sacked earlier this month right after Strauss was confirmed as the new director of cricket.

The Ashes starts on 9 July but England first have to finish the current series against New Zealand before they can start thinking about that.

It was thought that Bayliss’ fellow Australian Jason Gillespie, who coaches Yorkshire, was the frontrunner for the role as England coach after Strauss failed to convince Justin Langer to leave Western Australia in order to take over from Moores.

Langer is being tauted as a future Australia coach.

Bayliss was lukewarm to the board’s initial approaches but has been swayed by a package that would see the money he earns as coach of New South Wales and the Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders doubled, with reports in Australia claiming he could earn as much as £300 000 a year in the role.

As well as the two jobs, Bayliss has been working as an advisor to Australian coach Darren Lehmann, who he could now face in his first Test series in charge of England.

His previous experience also includes leading Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in 2011 and Twenty20 titles the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League.

Photo: Jacques Rossouw/IPL/SPORTZPICS/BCCI