It is a plum job with a six-figure salary that nobody seems to want.
England will advertise for a new men's white-ball head coach in the coming weeks after Matthew Mott left the position barely halfway through his four-year contract. At face value it seems like an attractive job: coaching one of the best teams in the world and providing the opportunity to bring through a new generation of exciting young players.
But finding an ideal candidate will not be straightforward. Several contenders have ruled themselves out already and other names who have been mooted are believed to be unlikely to apply. The vast majority of them already have highly paid roles in various T20 and short-form leagues around the world, which allow for long breaks and an ideal work-life balance.
Rob Key, England's managing director, has ultimate responsibility for recruiting Mott's successor and has previously suggested that he is open to allowing the right candidate to continue working in the IPL if he has a commitment there, in addition to the England national team. In practice, few of the world's most sought-after coaches are looking to add to their existing schedules.
That extends to England's incumbent coach. The possibility of Brendon McCullum, who is in charge of their Test team, taking on additional responsibility for the white-ball team has been floated but it seems like a non-starter: he is still based in New Zealand, and England's relentless cross-format schedule would often require him to be in two places at once.
At the end of July, two highly rated Australian coaches sat in opposing dugouts in the final of Major League Cricket. Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson played international cricket together for a decade and have worked together at Delhi Capitals in the IPL; in Dallas, Ponting's Washington Freedom beat Watson's San Francisco Unicorns to win the second MLC title.
It would be a major coup if Key were able to tempt Ponting - the pantomime villain of several Ashes series - to shift allegiances, but he has already ruled himself out. He has cited his commitments as a TV broadcaster and his desire to have "a decent amount of home time" with his young family, saying, "International jobs for me right now are not really where my life is at."
Watson is still relatively early in his coaching career, having worked for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year along with his previous role at Delhi Capitals. But like Ponting, he does not consider an international role to be particularly attractive at this time of his life - particularly for a team other than Australia.
He turned down an offer from the PCB earlier this year, and told ESPNcricinfo recently that the primary reason was "the time commitments" required for "a fully engaged" international coach. "That was an incredibly flattering opportunity," Watson explained, "but my family's still relatively young. Hopefully, over the next few years, when the timing is right, an opportunity like that will arise again."
The stakes are lower in franchise leagues, and allow coaches balance - particularly when so many of them are in their 40s or 50s and have families to consider. During MLC, Watson was able to bring his 11-year-old son to the US: "It was cricket heaven for him, coming to training and being around the group," he said. "I'm very fortunate to be able to make some special memories and see the sights, as well as being involved in the game that I love."
Like many others, Watson has balanced his coaching commitments with a broadcasting career. TV punditry is desirable work and Key will appreciate the challenge of convincing someone to give it up: when Andrew Strauss encouraged Key to apply for his current role two years ago, he asked him: "Would you be interested in a real job rather than talking s**t for a living?"
The outstanding candidate is Andy Flower, who spent five years as England's head coach from 2009-14, but is now the most sought-after coach on the franchise circuit. But there is little indication that he wants it. "He's got it pretty cushy at the moment," said Lewis Gregory, who works under Flower at Trent Rockets. "The stuff he's got going on around the world is a pretty nice situation."
Mott's departure with two years left on his contract also emphasises the demands of the role: he moved his young family across the world, settled in Cardiff, won the T20 World Cup in his first tournament, and was out of a job 18 months later. The scrutiny and expectations in international cricket are incomparable to that in most franchise leagues, with the exception of the IPL.
The issue of time away from family and relocating would be easily solved by hiring an English coach, but there is no outstanding candidate. Marcus Trescothick will act as interim coach during Australia's tour in September but has no head coaching experience; Andrew Flintoff's Northern Superchargers fared well in the Hundred, but that was his first role.
Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and James Foster could also be contenders, but the most compelling option is one of the few men who has not already ruled himself out of the running. Kumar Sangakkara has described the role as "an exciting prospect" and already has a close working relationship with Jos Buttler from their time at Rajasthan Royals together in the IPL.
Sangakkara is a unique candidate: he is based in Dorset and so would not have to relocate to fulfil the job, he knows Key well after working with him at Sky Sports, and he has a strong track record with a team in transition, leading Royals to the IPL final in 2022 directly after a mega-auction forced them to overhaul their squad.
He looks like the clear favourite at this stage - not least in a field that could feature several non-runners.