Australia sack assistant cricket coach Steven Rixon

Melbourne, Jan 29 (IANS) Steve Rixon has been removed as the assistant coach of the Australian cricket team.

Australian head coach Darren Lehmann said Wednesday: “I’ve taken the opportunity to look at our current coaching structure and the levels of support I feel we need moving into the future.

“I’ve mentioned previously that I believe our players can really benefit from more dedicated skill-based training, which means more regular support from technical experts to help work on specific areas of performance.

“This will see various coaches and experts in their field working with the team as and when it is needed. In recent times that’s included people like Mike Young to work on fielding while Shane Warne is going to work with our spinners in a short term capacity ahead of the ICC World Twenty 20.

“These changes to how we support our players means it is no longer necessary to have a full-time assistant coach travelling with the team.

“Steve has made an outstanding contribution to Australian cricket over a long period of time and played an important role with the national team since 2011.

“We’d like to thank him for his hard work and commitment over the years and wish him well in his future endeavours.”