Ricky Ponting: “I’ve got a bit of a coaching bug, I love being around the game”
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Ricky Ponting has been appointed as one of the assistant coaches for the Twenty20 tri-series next month, which will see Australia, England and New Zealand go head-to-head.
The former Australia captain held a similar role when Australia took on Sri Lanka last year. Ponting worked under stand-in head coach Justin Langer as Lehmann was in India with the Test team.
Since Lehmann’s regular deputies – David Saker, Brad Haddin and former England batsman Graeme Hick – will be in South Africa to start preparations for the Baggy Greens’ Test tour in March, women’s head coach Matthew Mott and Troy Cooley, head of the national performance program, will join Ponting as assistant coaches.
There has been talk of Australia potentially splitting up the coaching roles, but while Ponting insisted that the position he has taken up is a temporary one, he didn’t rule out the possibility of becoming the country’s coach in Twenty20 Internationals.
“There’s a fair bit of talk about splitting the (head coach) roles up and I’m just delighted my name is one that’s come up for that permanent role down the track,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “But we’ll wait and see how this goes first. I know I’d enjoy it if I had the opportunity to do it and if I could make it work in with the other commitments I have and with family time.”
Ponting added that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to coach alongside Lehmann, who played with him in 126 international matches.
“We’re great mates,” he said. “We enjoyed batting together and we enjoyed playing together, so I’ve no doubt at all we’ll enjoy working together as coach and assistant coach.
“I’ve got a bit of a coaching bug, I love being around the game and being around the best players and I love being able to feel like you’ve got some impact on the way they play their cricket.
“It’s very much an assistant’s role, Darren is obviously the head coach and hopefully we can work well together.”
Ponting was also recently named head coach of the Delhi Daredevils for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since he is also commentating in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL), the 43-year-old believes he can bring a lot to the table.
“I seem to spend my whole life around Twenty20 cricket now with commentating on the Big Bash and coaching in the IPL,” he said. “I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the game and we’ll see how it goes.”
Lehmann expressed his delight towards Ponting’s decision to join the coaching set-up for the T20 tri-series and believes his experience will come in handy.
“Ricky has a fantastic cricket brain and when it comes to Twenty20 cricket there aren’t many better in the world given his experience around the world, as a player, a coach and a commentator,” Lehmann said in a statement. “It’s an exciting prospect for us, as coaches, to have the chance to take advantage of Ricky’s Twenty20 knowledge and, for the players, the chance to work with one of Australia’s all-time greats will be just as exciting for them.
“The ICC World Twenty20 trophy is the only one that’s missing from the trophy cabinet at Cricket Australia and it would be great for us to put that right during the next edition of the tournament on home soil in 2020.”
The T20 tri-series will get underway on February 3 in Sydney, with Australia taking on New Zealand in the first match.