McDermott named Australia's bowling coach

Craig McDermott pipped his old pace rival Allan Donald to be the man charged with shepherding Australia's pace bowlers after they slipped to innocuous depths during the Ashes. The appointment of Troy Cooley's replacement was announced in Brisbane on Thursday after Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's head of cricket operations, had completed his final round of interviews.

"It's great to be back as part of the Australian team set-up again and I can't wait to get started working with the bowlers and the rest of the team," McDermott said. "We've got some challenging tours ahead in the coming months but I'm excited at the opportunity to be part of the group that helps get Australia back to number one in all forms of cricket."

McDermott wasted little time identifying the potentially explosive but more often wayward Mitchell Johnson as a key to the Australian team's fortunes. Johnson maintained a very close relationship with Cooley, but the countless hours they spent together did not always result in fruitful spells on the field.

"I thought Mitchell had his head in a really good space in Bangladesh," McDermott said. "If he can get it together he's like no other bowler we've got in the country. His arm speed is phenomenal and when he gets it right, he's unplayable. He was working on a couple of things in Bangladesh and if he gets it right he will bowl well and he'll be around for a long time."

In the 15 years since his retirement from international cricket in 1996, McDermott has tried various pursuits, not all of them successful. But in recent times he had worked as a pace bowling coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, and was taken to Bangladesh as interim pace bowling coach for Australia's short tour in April, where he gelled successfully with the players.

"Not everything is a quick fix. It's a long-term thing. Certainly I'd like to put an emphasis on that part of our bowling," McDermott said of encouraging Australia's bowlers to pursue a fuller length. "If you pitch it up you're a much better chance of getting lbws, caught behinds and clean bowleds.

"We've got more than enough (bowling) depth for Australia to be top in all three forms of the game. It's a challenging time but I enjoy a challenge."

McDermott was chosen out of an initial field that included Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel in addition to Donald and the little-known Allister de Winter, with his previous involvement in the Australian system a major selling point. A long and successful Test career, in which he took 291 wickets across 71 matches and excelled in a wide variety of conditions, also helped.

"His impressive record as an international player, during which he successfully overcame a number of setbacks, combined with his recent record at the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence and with the Australia team in Bangladesh, all impressed us that he was the outstanding candidate for this role," said Brown. "He will provide valuable support to the new Test Captain, Michael Clarke, coach Tim Nielsen, and the playing group."

Justin Langer, retained as batting coach the same day McDermott was appointed, quantified the Queenslander's value.

"He had an unbelievable work ethic when he played," Langer told ESPNcricinfo. "He played in an era with some great players and also a tough era. He went through the AB times and the Bobby Simpson times. That experience will be invaluable.

"I think he'll also bring quite a worldliness to the group, because he obviously went away from the cricket scene for some time and had varying degrees of fortune in his business life. He'll bring that worldliness to the group, which I think is pretty invaluable in this day and age.

"Often young professionals now, they gain this change-room existence where they come in and they become professional cricketers and all they really get to know is the change-room and their team-mates. I think any outside sources or influences who can talk to them about life after cricket and about being a good person off the field, or the different challenges that come with being a professional cricketer and the rewards that come with that, will be valuable."

Donald is now likely to remain with New Zealand where he had begun a fruitful relationship with the national side during the World Cup, while de Winter will go back to preparing the Tasmanian pace attack for their tilt at defending the Sheffield Shield title.

McDermott Profile :

Full name Craig John McDermott

Born April 14, 1965, Raceview, Ipswich, Queensland

Current age 46 years 28 days

Major teams Australia, Queensland

Also known as Billy

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast

Height 1.91 m

Relation Son - AC McDermott

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	71	90	13	940	42*	12.20	1716	54.77	0	0	90	6	19	0
ODIs	138	78	17	432	37	7.08	492	87.80	0	0	36	8	27	0
First-class	174	210	35	2856	74	16.32			0	7			53	0
List A	176	97	23	594	41	8.02			0	0			32	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	71	124	16586	8332	291	8/97	11/157	28.63	3.01	56.9	17	14	2
ODIs	138	138	7461	5018	203	5/44	5/44	24.71	4.03	36.7	4	1	0
First-class	174		36785	19025	677	8/44		28.10	3.10	54.3		37	4
List A	176		9416	6212	254	5/44	5/44	24.45	3.95	37.0	7	1	0

Donald could become Australia's bowling coach

Australia and New Zealand could be battling for the services of Allan Donald as bowling coach, after the South African made it to the final round of interviews to replace Troy Cooley in the Australian setup. Donald worked with New Zealand for several months before and during the World Cup, and while they are keen to retain him, the decision may be taken out of their hands.

Craig McDermott, the former Australia fast bowler and Academy coach, and the Tasmania assistant Allister de Winter also made the cut for a second interview with Cricket Australia. However, Donald would be a more unexpected choice if he was offered the job, as Australia have traditionally not been inclined to employ foreign talent on their coaching staff.

Cricket Australia's general manager of cricket, Michael Brown, has conducted the final round of interviews and was expected to put an offer to the chosen candidate this week. An announcement on who will replace Cooley, who is now the head coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, is likely to come over the next week.

"I am waiting on a call from Cricket Australia in the next 48 hours [from Tuesday's final interviews] and then I'll make my decision," Donald told on Wednesday. If he does not win the Australian position, Donald is expected to remain with New Zealand.

Both teams could benefit from the experience of Donald, who is reportedly strong on the mental aspects of the game, not just the technical. That could be ideal for an Australian attack led by Mitchell Johnson, although a New Zealand bowling group that has lost the veterans Shane Bond and Iain O'Brien in the past couple of years would also gain from working with a champion such as Donald.

New Zealand's director of cricket, John Buchanan, said the role of bowling coach would be of great importance in the immediate future for their youthful attack. The veteran spearhead Chris Martin turns 37 later this year and can't go on forever, so young men like Tim Southee and Hamish Bennett will need to take on more responsibility over the coming seasons.

"I spoke to [the coach] John Wright at length and he was very impressed with him [Donald], the way he went about what he did," Buchanan told . "He probably spends more time with bowlers in terms of the way they think about the game and their game awareness, as opposed to being too technical about what bowling requires. John's comment was that his group responded very well to him and he was very keen to keep him on board if he could.

"Having that sort of experience and knowledge around is one way of upskilling the younger guys who have less of that, but offer a lot of other things. It is a critical role, certainly for the next couple of years anyway."

In addition to having taken 330 Test wickets at an average of 22.25, Donald has plenty of coaching experience on his CV. He spent a short time as England's bowling coach in 2007 and took charge of the Zimbabwe domestic side Mountaineers last year, before taking up his role with New Zealand.