Paul Downton is hoping to return to working in sport two years after being sacked as managing director of the ECB in the wake of the humiliating group-stage exit from the 2015 World Cup.
Downton has purposely spent time away from cricket following his harrowing 14-month tenure with England. While there he cancelled Kevin Pietersen’s central contract and then had to apologise for saying KP had been ‘disinterested and distracted’ during what proved to be his last Test appearance in Sydney in January 2014, where the Aussies completed an Ashes whitewash.
But Downton, who has been building up a sports mentoring business since ECB chief executive Tom Harrison made him the scapegoat for England’s travails, feels ready to make another contribution to cricket, most likely with Middlesex.