Former cricketer Mark Waugh urges Australia to have specialist white-ball coach

New Delhi: Former Australia cricketer Mark Waugh has called for the senior men’s team to appoint a specialist white-ball coach after the Mitchell Marsh-led side failed to enter the semi-finals of 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup last month.

Australia made it to the Super Eights as the topper from Group B, but losses to Afghanistan and India meant they missed out on the semi-finals of the competition for a second straight time. Australia, the 2021 winners, had previously missed out on the T20 World Cup knockouts on the home soil in 2022.

“I reckon we need a reboot by having a different coach for T20 cricket, or 50-over cricket (as well). I think a fresh set of eyes, someone in there to come in and make some change. I think we need to look at some fresh eyes in that T20 outfit,” said Waugh on Fox Sports’ The Back Page show.

Waugh was also critical of Australia’s selection calls during the tournament, including of leaving out Mitchell Starc for the clash against Afghanistan, which they lost by 21 runs. He further added that young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis should have played at some stage in the competition.

“We need a reboot in T20 cricket. With the amount of talent we’ve got in the squad and around the squad, we should do a lot better than that. We’ve got a lot of good players who didn’t play in that tournament.

“Jake Fraser-McGurk should have been in the squad, because you just have him there, ready, locked and loaded to go if you need him, but he wasn’t there. The non-selection of Mitchell Starc against Afghanistan was crucial, and even Josh Inglis not getting a game,” he said.

Australia will return to international cricket action when they face Scotland and England on a white-ball tour of both nations in September. IANS

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