Darren Lehmann was hospitalised with deep-vein thrombosis ahead of the final ODI against India last month Andrew Matthews / © PA Photos
Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann will join the squad in New Zealand after being cleared to travel following his diagnosis with deep-vein thrombosis. On Saturday afternoon, Lehmann will arrive in Wellington, where the Australians will be playing the second ODI that day, and he will remain in the city until the first Test, which starts there on Friday next week.
Michael di Venuto, who has been acting coach in Lehmann’s absence, will remain in that role for the third and final ODI in Hamilton on Monday. Lehmann was hospitalised in Sydney before the fifth ODI against India last month, and Australia have not won a match since then: they lost the Sydney ODI, the three T20s against India, and the first ODI against New Zealand in Auckland on Wednesday.
“We’d love to have our coach here,” captain Steven Smith said after the Auckland defeat. “There’s no doubt about that. He’s unwell at the moment obviously and he’ll be back soon enough. So we’ve got to move on, I don’t think today was him to blame. It was certainly the players. We didn’t adapt well enough and we were outplayed.”
Although Australia were clearly outplayed in Auckland, they did not help themselves by neglecting to ask for a review for an lbw decision early in their chase, when David Warner was given out to a ball that was clearly sailing over the top of the stumps. Initially it appeared that Warner’s batting partner George Bailey advised him against asking for a review, but Bailey said on Thursday that was not the case.
“I said, ‘What did it feel like?’ And he said, ‘High’. So I said, ‘Go for it’. And he turned around and walked off,” Bailey said on radio station RSN. “So, I don’t really know what more he wants from my end.”
Bailey said after his own dismissal he had discussed the incident in the rooms with Warner.
“He said, ‘I wasn’t that confident in what you said’. I said ‘I’m not really sure what you’re after’,” Bailey said. “I can’t be any more explicit than saying ‘go for it’ … You know, I reckon, if you’re out or even if it’s close and it’s up to you to make that call.”
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo