Michael Bevan replies to Peter Siddle's criticism; explains coaching credentials

Michael Bevan stirred a controversy with his tweets after Australia's defeat in the hands of India in the second ODI at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. The southpaw expressed his interest to be the batting coach of the national side in ODIs had tweeted, "@CricketAus would love to be considered for the role of ODI batting coach where do I apply?". He added a post script through another tweet, "Ps not saying aussies are crap. Great record over last couple years. Just saying I'm looking.." ALSO READ:

https://twitter.com/mbevan12/status/911371127368200192

https://twitter.com/mbevan12/status/911428135001796608

Australian pacer Peter Siddle hit back at Bevan, stating the Australian boys need support and not such jibes.

"He's had 15 years to apply for a job with Cricket Australia and help out around the country and he hasn't," Siddle said on Fox Sports News. "The boys want support, not those blokes that haven't been around and haven't been helping out at either State or international cricket just to throw out a tweet. It's a little bit low. I would love to see him apply for a job with NSW or Victoria, start doing some work, not just throwing out a tweet when we're going bad, and when we're going well we don't hear from him. He was a brilliant player for Australia, one of the best. To have him around would be outstanding, but to just throw it out there after a bad loss is a bit disappointing."

Bevan, one of the greatest ODI cricketers, defended his coaching credentials and also mentioned it wasn't his intention to have a go at Steven Smith's men on the back of two bad games.

"There was no intention to link the Australia performances with the fact that I wanted to do the (batting coach) role," Bevan told cricket.com.au. "The Australian one-day team have had a great record for a long time now. It really wasn't my intention to have a go at anyone off the back of two bad games. Any player knows a couple of bad games does not mean that much. It was never my intention to disrespect anyone, it was more just the fact that I have made the transition from a head coach to a specialist batting coach just recently and I just wanted to make it known I was happy to look for batting roles."

However, Bevan accepted Siddle's criticism but went on to clarify his coaching credentials. "I think Peter Siddle's comments were well intentioned ... but I'm not sure he knew my background in terms of my recent coaching in Sydney Premier cricket or my attempts to find work within the Cricket Australia framework. But I agree with him that everyone has to pay their dues and go through the due course of coaching to get experience and go through the levels. I agree with that but not with the claim I hadn't been putting myself out there in the Australian coaching field," he added.

Australian head coach Darren Lehmann had earlier this year written to former players that the support staff are always looking for ways to improve, and any advice or ideas were welcome from them. He also welcomed them to the dressing rooms with prior notification. Maybe that bit added to Siddle's ire.

Bevan is an accredited Level 3 High Performance coach, and he moved into the back room after finishing career with Tasmania. He has coached in Indian Cricket League (ICL) before spending a season with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in IPL. He has been the head coach of Eastern Suburbs in Sydney's league competition for 3 years. He now is focusing on a role specialising in batting coaching.

Australia have meanwhile lost the third ODI against India at Indore on Sunday. They now trail the series 0-3.