Published: Jan 29, 2014, 02:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 29, 2014, 02:48 PM (IST)
Jan 29, 2014
Australia’s assistant coach Steve Rixon has been axed from the support staff by head coach Darren Lehmann, announced Cricket Australia(CA). The decision which was made during Australia’s departure for the series against South Africa.
Fox Sports reported that the axing was a bit too harsh and only shows how much control Lehmann really has of this current Australian side. Lehmann who has stressed on the current Australian side not requiring a general assistant coach due to specialist coaches for almost any given area.
He said, “I’ve taken the opportunity to look at our current coaching structure and the levels of support I feel we need moving into the future. I’ve mentioned previously that I believe our players can really benefit from more dedicated skill-based training, which means more regular support from technical experts to help work on specific areas of performance.
“This will see various coaches and experts in their field working with the team as and when it is needed. In recent times that’s included people like Mike Young to work on fielding, while Shane Warne is going to work with our spinners in a short-term capacity ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 2014. These changes to how we support our players means it is no longer necessary to have a full-time assistant coach travelling with the team,” added Lehmann.
“Steve has made an outstanding contribution to Australian cricket over a long period of time and played an important role with the national team since 2011. We’d like to thank him for his hard work and commitment over the years and wish him well in his future endeavours,” concluded Lehmann.
Rixon’s position had looked a bit dicey especially after former baseball coach Young was introduced into the coaching staff for the Australian cricket team.
Rixon has also been a fielding coach and a spin-bowling coach earlier for Australia and has also coached teams like New South Wales, New Zealand and Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings.
