As England prepare to bring the curtain down on their miserable World Cup campaign on Saturday, minds at home have already begun to turn towards what comes next.
Among those tasked with the brief will be a certain Andrew Flintoff, who was on Thursday confirmed as part of the Lions coaching staff for this month's UAE training camp.
The tour has a red-ball focus, though given the collapse of England's 50-over side, it is a route into the white-ball team that must suddenly looks most accessible to many of those involved. And for England great Flintoff, too, this is another step on the road back into cricket, and on a personal journey of recovery following the car accident that almost took his life last year.
"He's got a huge passion for helping people and he wants to give back," England performance director Mo Bobat said. "He has a lot to offer and there is a lot of energy and enthusiasm from him. It's not often you get players of his calibre and experience wanting to get involved and [as] proactively as he does, so you have to take that seriously."
After retiring in 2009, Flintoff broadly stepped away from the game to forge a successful career in television but was severely injured while filming for Top Gear last year. The incident eventually prompted his quiet return to cricket, which included an incognito stint working with England's age-group players.
"He was great around the Under-19s," Bobat added. "He did that off his own back. He's been doing some informal scouting. I started speaking to him in the summer, saying, 'I'd love you to come on this camp', and he said he'd love to."
The trip will be Flintoff's most formal involvement with England yet, following an unpaid spell working with the side during the white-ball series against New Zealand in September. A 3-1 victory there appeared to set England's World Cup defence up perfectly, but they have won just two of their seven games ahead of tomorrow's final group match against Pakistan, who have only the slenderest chance of semi-final qualification themselves, requiring victory and a net-run-rate miracle to overhaul New Zealand.
