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Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has been appointed as an assistant coach of Australia after working with the team during the Pakistan tour. Vettori's appointment came after Andrew McDonald vacated the position to join as head coach replacing former head coach Justin Langer. Notably, Vettori and McDonald have earlier worked together in the Indian Premier League, where they played for and coached the Bangalore franchise.
The former left-arm orthodox all-rounder will join Victorian Andre Borovec as the two new assistant coaches following the elevation of Andrew McDonald to head coach and the departure of Jeff Vaughan to coach Tasmania. Vettori confessed that he was highly impressed with the group during the Pa Pakistan tour following his appointment.
"Their approach towards the game, preparation for the matches, and execution are so close to perfection. It's a solid unified group which has the potential to have a gratifying and hopefully successful period ahead," Vettori said.
The 43-year-old, who appeared in 113 Tests and 295 ODIs for New Zealand across an illustrious 18-year international career, joins as Australia's assistant coach ahead of the Sri Lanka tour next month and India's tour early next year, along with a 50-over World Cup in India starting in October 2023 will be a hard task for the newly appointed coaching staff.
As per Cricket Australia, former Test and Victoria seamer Clint McKay will join the coaching staff for the T20 and ODI component of the tour, along with McDonald, batting coach Michael Di Venuto and spin coach Sri Sriram before Borovec and Vettori commence their roles for the Test series.
Borovec's appointment as a full-time assistant coach is not very common and earlier raised a lot of eyebrows, given most coaches who progress to the international level generally have playing experience, at least at the domestic level, but Borovec's case is different and unique.
During the past 12 months, the 44-year-old former teacher and first-grade wicketkeeper with Geelong in Victorian Premier Cricket became highly qualified and emerged as a mentor of Victoria, the Melbourne Renegades and, more recently, with the Australian team in limited-overs series.
"Andre has done a great job with boys and has been involved as an extremely skilled and experienced high-performance coach," McDonald was quoted as saying by the Cricket Australia website.