Darren Lehmann to resign as the coach of limited overs format?

The former Australian cricketer and the current coach Darren Lehmann is deliberating over resigning from the position in the limited overs format. Recently, he had to miss the ODI and T20I series against India due to the personal reasons and returned home after Bangladesh tour. Also, he is having health issues and looking at the hectic international schedule, the 47-year-old is contemplating of handing over the responsibility and focussing solely on Tests.

The Australian team is currently enjoying a small break before the all-important and prestigious Ashes series begins in November. However, prior to that, all the national players will participate in the domestic Sheffield Shield season which will commence in this week. Few players would also try to put their hands up as the team in the longest format is not yet settled and places are up for grabs. Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade are the most likely candidates to lose their place after mediocre in returns in India.

Lehmann in favour of split coach system

Darren Lehmann cleared that the heavy workload and his health issues has forced him to think this way and is likely to discuss the matter with Cricket Australia. The former cricketer is with the team since 2013 and they also triumphed in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup at home under him. However, he thinks that different coaches in the red ball and white ball cricket is the way to go forward as cricket is being specialised nowadays.

“I think it will get to a stage where I’ll probably have to look at changing that set-up. I know speaking to (former England coach) Andy Flower for example… he didn’t like it so much, but I think the way that the game is going, you’ve got no choice now. You can’t split them three ways — Tests, one-dayers and T20. Some of the time there’s no point another coach coming in, it’s just logistical nightmares, so I think you’d probably go white ball, red ball,” he told cricket.com.au.

He also said that in the near future cricket would witness entirely separate XIs of the teams across formats. “Cricket is really getting specialised. You can see a time when down the track… I don’t know how many years but there’ll be really significant changes and the XIs will be separate for each format or in red-ball and white-ball cricket. And that’s happening now anyway, just because it’s the only way you can keep the players on the park,” Lehmann added.

In case, he decides to step down from the helm, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Jason Gillespie and David Saker are the likeliest candidates to take over the role in the limited overs format.