Ricky Ponting to become Australia's T20 team coach

Australia cricket team coach Darren Lehmann has already outlined his plan to walk away from the coaching job after the 2019 Ashes in England. The 47-year-old confirmed that he planned to walk away at the end of his current contract, which expires after a jam-packed 2019. That will include the 50-over World Cup, where Australia will be defending its title, and the return Ashes in England — a hurdle Lehmann is yet to conquer as coach in two attempts.

Thus with Lehmann gone, Cricket Australia (CA) will need to find a replacement almost immediately to keep the work going. And according to recent developments, the Daily Telegraph reports that former skipper Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer Ricky Ponting is in demand to take over the national Twenty20 coaching duties.

Ponting will be joining Lehmann’s staff as an assistant for the upcoming T20 tri-series against England and New Zealand next month, with reports suggesting he’s the preferred option to take over the clipboard for the shortest format in a full-time capacity ahead of the T20 World Cup, which Australia will host in late 2020.

Ponting has enjoyed success as a coach during his stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), guiding Mumbai Indians to the 2015 title. Speaking to cricket.com.au, Ponting said, “Coaching in the IPL was really challenging and a lot of fun … to get a real taste of what coaching is all about was great.”

Justin Langer favourite to take the post after Lehmann

This will not be the first time Ponting’s contention has been brought into the fold, in February 2017, he and fellow Test great Jason Gillespie joined as assistants to interim head coach Justin Langer for a home T20 series against Sri Lanka that was played while Lehmann and the Test team were in India.

Langer, who has worked wonders as coach of Perth Scorchers and Western Australia, is the firm favourite to take the reins of the national team into a post-Lehmann era.