Reports from earlier this year claimed that former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie was firmly in the sights of Cricket Australia to fill the vacant bowling coach post of the national team. But the 41-year-old denied that he was approached for the role. However, according to fresh reports, CA officials have held advanced discussions to bring the Sydney-born cricketer on board as the new bowling coach of the Australian team. However, Gillespie’s current employers told the press that they haven’t received any official approach from Cricket Australia yet.
The post of Australia’s bowling coach is vacant since the departure of Craig McDermott in March. Western Australia bowling coach Adam Griffith is currently filling the post for Australia’s upcoming ODI series in the Caribbean. Legendary South African pacer Allan Donald will take off the Australian bowlers in July for their tour of Sri Lanka.
However, CA also cleared that it is in no rush to appoint a full-time bowling coach before the start of the home summer. It is also understood that there will be no official announcement until the end of the Sri Lanka tour.
Cricket Australia has many candidates on the list
A Cricket Australia spokesperson said, “We’re speaking with a number of candidates but by no means is anything confirmed. We’ll look to make an announcement as soon as the process is complete, with the aim to have the coaching team finalised, at latest, by the start of the 2016-17 Australian summer.”
The former right-arm fast bowler has been in charge of English County side Yorkshire since 2011 and has gained a very good reputation in his tenure. He took the team from the second division of English cricket to two consecutive County Championship titles.
He also had a quite successful stint with the BBL side Adelaide Strikers. He guided them to the first place in this year’s BBL points table before being eliminated in the semi-finals and will again resume his post this summer. Gillespie was also in the line to become England’s head coach which eventually went to fellow countryman Trevor Bayliss.
Last month on a radio show, Australian head coach Darren Lehmann said that his former teammate is the frontrunner for the vacant bowling coach post. “We’ll have a look worldwide. But it’s a tough one, we’ve got to get the right person for the right time for this group, which is a young group. Gillespie will certainly be at the forefront with other bowling coaches. Hopefully, we can entice him back.”
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