Published: Jun 25, 2013, 02:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 25, 2013, 02:28 PM (IST)
Darren Lehmann (right) was appointed Australia coach for the next two years © Getty Images
Sydney: Jun 25, 2013
Following the sacking of head coach Mickey Arthur, Cricket Australia (CA) is reportedly hoping that the alliance between new coach Darren Lehmann and captain Michael Clarke will make for a happier atmosphere in the team and start the healing process ahead of the Ashes.
CA chief executive James Sutherland had confirmed on Monday night that coach Mickey Arthur had been sacked, Lehmann had been appointed as his replacement for the next two years and captain Clarke was standing down as a selector, all just over a fortnight before the Ashes begin.
Sutherland was quoted as saying by news.com.au: “We’re really confident we’re making the right decision and the Australian cricket team will respond positively.”
“It comes down to Australian cricket fans … they want a team they can be proud of. The obvious question is why, why make this change … the simple answer at the moment is the performance of the Australia cricket team has not been up to standard,” he said.
“Consistency of behaviour, accountability and discipline of behaviour were (underlying) reasons and we recognised issues with that in months gone by. The coach is not solely responsible for that but we’ve made a change that we believe will help that,” he said.
“Things weren’t improving and we couldn’t let things continue … we didn’t want to get to the stage where we looked back and thought ‘we could have changed it’,” Sutherland added.
Expressing his disappointment at the sacking of Arthur, Sutherland said that although Arthur is a good man and has tried his best, he was unfortunately unable to do that this season, adding that the CA has not taken this decision lightly as they are aware that a baggy green cap is important to all Australian cricketers.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia A players loved playing under Lehmann and Brad Haddin, privately reporting a team spirit that had been missing for months, with Usman Khawaja making no attempt to hide his enjoyment of the culture under Lehmann during the A tour.
Praising his Queensland coach Lehmann as ‘awesome’, Khawaja, who has said that he is misunderstood by some of the top brass at CA, stated that he has a good relationship with Lehmann, adding that even though he is tough, he has a good cricket brain and makes sure that the players have fun while playing.
”He’s been awesome; he’s my coach in Queensland, I get along with him very well. I love the way he goes about his business. He’s tough but he’s always having fun. One of the best things about him is he’s got a really good cricket brain, and you just can’t buy that.
”He’s had so much experience, I think he’s got a lot to offer Australian cricket in years to come,” Khawaja said.
Meanwhile, Clarke has said that although he was initially shocked to be told of Arthur’s axing, he believed that player power had not played a role in the coach’s firing, adding that decision has nothing to do with either himself or any of the players.
The coaching issue was discussed deeply by the CA board at their last two meetings, stretching back as far as May before David Warner’s two public meltdowns, but the decision to remove Arthur was not made until the weekend, the report added.
(With inputs from ANI)
