Trevor Bayliss will act as coach of the Australian T20 squad in November in place of current boss Darren Lehmann.
Australia has appointed New South Wales coach Trevor Bayliss to fill in for Darren Lehmann as national coach for the team’s three T20 matches against South Africa in November.
Bayliss has been called upon to give Lehmann a week off to prepare for the Test series against India and the Cricket World Cup in January.
With Australia’s United Arab Emirates tour against Pakistan ending just days before the beginning of the three T20 matches, Lehmann said in a statement that the move was a logistical one.
“It’s not really a break, to be perfectly honest,” he said.
“I think we get back the day before the first game in Australia (on November 5).
“So it’s just logistically hard because the guys are going to have to prepare before that, so four or five days before that they’ll be in training, getting ready for three T20s in five days.
“Logistically it’s not fair on the players (in terms of) getting prepared right. (It’s) too hard to come straight into a system where they’ve been training for four or five days.
“So from my point of view, they’ve got a one-day series about 10 days after that, so I’ll come home, get ready for that, and off we go again.”
Bayliss said he was excited to take the reigns of the Australian squad, but that it would be difficult to leave his role as NSW coach for the week-long period.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to work with some of Australia’s best T20 players,” he said.
“Of course it will be hard to leave NSW at the start of the season, but I’m very much looking forward to this opportunity and know that the Blues will be well looked after while I’m away”.
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