DURHAM are open to the possibility of Paul Collingwood returning to the club in a coaching role, but accept it’s currently a long-shot.

The club’s long-serving captain retired at the end of last season and is in the West Indies with the England one-day squad.

He is expected to be part of the coaching team with the England World Cup squad this summer and the departure of assistant coach Paul Farbrace from the international set-up increases the chances of Collingwood being part of the national team on a permanent basis.

England are likely to appoint one coach to replace Trevor Bayliss, with Chris Silverwood the leading candidate, and have three coaches working under him; Collingwood looking like he is earmarked for a role.

ECB head of cricket Ashley Giles said: "We have Paul Collingwood waiting in the wings, who we think can be a really able assistant in that World Cup squad.

"He replaces Farby in terms of head count, but in terms of structure, I see a head coach and three guys working underneath that head coach."

Durham have appointed James Franklin as their own head coach, but are considering appointing a specialist T20 coach, as well as a batting consultant.

The former position could be an option for Collingwood depending on international matters and the club’s chief executive Tim Bostock admitted: “There’s been discussions with him at a very high level but at the end of day we’ve brought James in and it’s very much his decision. He’s got to bring his own men in.

“The last thing I want to do is say, ‘I’m going to hire you, James, and by the way, these are the people you’re going to be working with.’

“He’s got to make a decision on that and he’s a very experienced Twenty20 guy.

“A lot depends on what happens with Paul. Things seem to have opened up for him with England. From his perspective I’d be thinking he’s got to be a candidate to fill Paul Farbrace’s vacancy.

“But you’ll only really know when Bayliss goes because his replacement will want to pick his own men.’’

With the domestic landscape changing with the introduction next year of the new Hundred competition, Bostock appreciates the likelihood of players and coaches moving on regularly across all formats of the game.

“You can see (Justin) Langer slowly but surely Australia’s old guard – (David) Saker’s gone, Graeme Hick isn’t coming for the World Cup, just for the Ashes. It’s inevitable, you want your own people,’’ he said.

“It will be a decision for James and Marcus (North) but we’d be mad not to talk to him about what it might look like because you’ve also got the new Hundred competition (which starts in 2020) and you’ll have quite a lot of people, players and coaches, trying to get a job in that new comp.

“That means this in year’s Twenty20, a lot of the players will be thinking, ‘One good season and I’m getting a contract’ and the coaches will be thinking that as well, so the overseas coaches are going to be all over the comp as well, they’ll all want to be involved as well.

“I think a lot of overseas players and coaches will be desperate to be involved.”