Gary Kirsten favourite to replace Chris Silverwood as England Test coach

The window for applications closes at 6pm on Friday but informal conversations have already taken place and Kirsten, the former India and South Africa coach, is favourite to take over from Chris Silverwood.

The England and Wales Cricket Board are looking to fill two positions with the other being for white ball cricket although for now, the priority is to appoint a new coach in time for their series against New Zealand next month.

Rob Key appointed Ben Stokes as captain and alongside Sir Andrew Strauss and chief executive Tom Harrison, they are looking through the current candidates.

Ottis Gibson, Justin Langer, Graham Ford and Paul Collingwood are all names that have been mentioned since Silverwood's departure.

It is believed Collingwood and Young Lions coach Richard Dawson may find themselves in a battle for the limited-overs role instead.

If former South Africa and India coach Kirsten does emerge successful in that race, an agreement would need to be reached over his role as batting coach with Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans.

They are currently top of the IPL table and on course to go all the way in a competition which runs until May 29 - just four days before England's Test summer begins.

Extracting him from his longer-term commitments in future years should be simpler, while the ECB would also need to find a new coach for Welsh Fire in The Hundred.

Having overlooked Kirsten for Silverwood, they successfully recruited him to front the Cardiff-based team in last year's launch season.

Katich is also tied to that tournament with Manchester Originals, giving him recent exposure to the English game.