Following their disappointing 1-0 series defeat to the West Indies, England have a two month break before their busy summer of international cricket gets underway with a Test match against New Zealand at Lord's in June.
In the interim, England need to appoint a new director of cricket, head coach and, potentially, a new Test captain. And former England skipper Nasser Hussain has delivered his verdict on who he would like to see lead England into a new era.
First on the list is the director of cricket, with the ECB planning to make the appointment next month. Several candidates have applied for the role, but Hussain would like to see his Sky Sports colleague Rob Key given the job.
"He always speaks sense - off the camera as well as on it," Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail . "He won't do fancy PowerPoint presentations or use management speak, but he has the ear of the players and he understands what they have to deal with.
"Often, he will come off a commentary stint and get a couple of messages from county players saying 'thanks for appreciating what we're going through'. I think it also helps that he has young kids who play the game; he understands it from the bottom up."
Hussain would also like to see the head coach role split between red ball and white ball cricket in a bid to make it more attractive. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is Hussain's choice to coach England's Test side, while he would like to see current interim coach Paul Collingwood take charge of the white ball team.
"For me, there is no finer brain in cricket at the moment than Ricky Ponting, who reads the game so well," he added. "The new coach has to be someone the players respect; the dressing room has been a bit too nice in recent years.
"And, my goodness, if the batters in that England team aren't going to listen to what Ponting has to say about technique, then why are they playing the game? Not all greats of the game become good coaches, because they're not sure how to get their message across. Ponting doesn't have that problem.
"But because I can't see him wanting to commit to a year-round gig - if he wants to commit at all - then we have to split the role. And there's no reason why Paul Collingwood can't be in charge of the white-ball team."
As far as the captaincy goes, Hussain believes Joe Root 's time in charge of the Test team should be up, with vice-captain Ben Stokes given the job. "The best candidate is Ben Stokes - so long as he's in the right frame of mind," Hussain wrote.
"I'd have no doubts about his cricket brain. The way he worked out the run-chases in the World Cup final and the Headingley Test prove that. He also knows how to handle the players. When he speaks, they listen. Like Ponting, he has an aura.
"If Stokes isn't in the right place, then England may have to consider a short-term fix, such as Stuart Broad taking over for a year or so. Again, he is someone with a good cricket brain, and he's a winner."
