Rob Key shields Andrew Flintoff amid criticism over England Lions coaching role

England men's managing director Rob Key has thrown his weight behind Andrew Flintoff, who has copped plenty of criticism after taking up his new role as the head coach of Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League (BBL).

Flintoff is also the head coach of England Lions, who are slated to tour South Africa in December. However, he will be unavailable for the tour, as it will directly clash with the start of the BBL in Australia.

Key believes that Flintoff's unavailability will create room for the rest of the coaching staff to step up to the challenge. The England men's managing director also described Flintoff's early exit for the BBL as a positive, arguing that it would help the former England allrounder gain more experience and mature as a coach.

"I saw something I thought was unfair, actually, on Andrew Flintoff, where it said he shouldn't have been doing that Lions job because he's not doing this job now, the England head coach's job," Key was reported as saying by Cricinfo.

"I think that's done a complete disservice to one of our greatest cricketers who, for the last three [sic] years, has done that Lions job when he could have done a hell of a lot of other things, earning a lot more money. But his passion [is] to actually try and bring the next generation through, and people like Sonny Baker, Mitch Stanley… so many of these players have come under his wing.

"We've been incredibly fortunate to have him do it. I thought it was disrespectful for people to say that he shouldn't have been doing it. He's been outstanding in that job, and we've been incredibly fortunate to have him."

Key clarified that Flintoff was never in the running for the England men's Test head coach role. Per Key, Flintoff needs more coaching experience under his belt to mature and can go "on to become an outstanding head coach".

"He'll get the chance to Sydney Thunder to go and get more head coach experience, which I think he needs, because he is three [sic] years into being head coach of a Lions programme. He needs to go off and spend some time [elsewhere].

"It [the Test vacancy] just came too soon, but he should be someone that goes on to become an outstanding head coach. When you talk about who could be the best person, Andrew Flintoff - in the future, with a bit more experience under him - could do it, and him not being there at times in the Lions gives opportunity for other coaches, and it's for us to choose who comes in to do that.

"I think he's an unsung hero. A lot of these young players that are coming through, you think how hard it is when they've got T10s, T20s, ILT20, SA20. We've got to go to a player and say, 'We want you to come and commit to a red-ball tour of Australia, we want you to come and play 50-over cricket in Abu Dhabi'.

"Having Andrew Flintoff there has made a massive, massive difference in being able to do that, and I think he deserves the respect and the thanks for doing it."

For the uninitiated, England Lions' tour of South Africa is a part of a reciprocal agreement between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). South Africa A toured England in May-June as part of the arrangement. They played two unofficial Tests and three unofficial ODIs against England Lions, winning the red-ball contest 2-0 and the white-ball leg 2-1, respectively.