David Saker to replace Lehmann for Australia’s ODI tour to India

Australia’s assistant coach David Saker will take over at the helm of the national team for the upcoming ODI campaign in India later this year as a temporary replacement, and feels it may provide him with a crucial stepping stone to the job as Darren Lehmann’s permanent replacement.

Saker, who was England’s bowling coach from 2010 to 2015 and then the coach for Victoria before being named as Craig McDermott’s replacement with Australia last July, will replace Lehmann as he takes a break.

The packed international travel schedule in tandem with Lehmann’s recent health scare – deep vein thrombosis – an issue exacerbated by long-haul air travel – is why the coaching workload needs to be shared.

With Lehmann’s coaching contract extended till 2019 World Cup in the UK and the Ashes series that immediately follows it, many candidates have been seen as potential successors. Saker has now thrown his hat into the ring, confirming today that he wants to coach Australia in his own right.

Even though he served only one year of his term as Victoria’s coach (in which he led them to the Sheffield Shield title in 2015-16) before being Bupa Support Team’s Assistant Coach, with an emphasis on working with the Australia’s top fast bowlers.

“It’s a huge honour to be even considered to be a coach of an Australian team, and to be given the opportunity is fantastic. I’m going to look forward to it a lot, and my ambition is to coach Australia” Saker told cricket.com.au

But he is also confident of executing his duties well. “But I think I’ve been involved in Test cricket, one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket a lot. I’ve seen a lot of cricket, so I think I could do the job without a doubt.”

While details of the upcoming ODI series in India are yet to be revealed, it is likely to follow after Australia’s possible Test tour to Bangladesh in September.