Australian bowling coach David Saker is a key factor in England’s current success, according to paceman Clint McKay.

Australian quick McKay was coached by Saker at Victoria, where he was able to appreciate the value of his coaching skills and advice.

Saker replaced current West Indies coach Ottis Gibson as England’s fast bowling coach in April, 2010.

Since his arrival they have soared to number one in the Test and Twenty20 world rankings and he has developed and nurtured a formidable assembly line of pace bowlers, led by James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

“Me and David Saker have known each other for a long time, he’s been fantastic for my career and obviously being Victorian he worked with us for a long period of time,” McKay said.

“No wonder why England’s bowlers are bowling so well at the moment and they’ve got so many bowlers around.

“We have got a couple of good bowling coaches too.

“Ali de Winter is on this tour and we had Craig McDermott before that and Troy Cooley before then.

“So there are still some great coaches in Australia and there are some really good kids coming through.

“But David’s influence is obvious with the England team.

“They are bowling a full length, getting the ball to swing and that’s one of his big strengths.

“There’s no doubt the English bowlers have come on leaps and bounds since he’s been involved in the set-up. That’s the quality of him. But there are bowling coaches in Australia who can do just as good a job.”

When England regained the Ashes in 2005 for the first time in 18 years, they then utilised the knowledge of another Australian bowling coach Troy Cooley, who later returned home to work with the Australia team.