Tough assignments await the incoming Australian coach in 2022
The incoming Australian coach will face several tough assignments throughout 2022. Australian cricket might be duly aware that parting ways with Justin Langer, a formula that has yielded on-field success, may backfire.
We are routinely told that professional sport is a performance-based arena, but Langer's reign as head coach ended as he reached the summit of performance. He won Australia's inaugural T20 World Cup and thumped England 4-0 in the recently concluded Ashes Test series.
Difficult tasks await the next Australian coach, and the recent on-field success will call forth pressure to match that recent record in upcoming fixtures this year. Andrew McDonald has been named as the interim coach for Australia. He has also led Victoria in the past.
The Aussies move straight into a hectic run of five T20Is in 10 days against Sri Lanka, beginning this Thursday night. That leaves just five days between losing their head coach and preparing for the series (even though Langer was scheduled to miss the series anyway).
Having been awarded the T20 World Cup trophy in 2021, Australia are expected to pick up where they left off and win the series comfortably.
Lengthy Asian tour awaits Australia
Next up is the much-anticipated Test and ODI tour of Pakistan, scheduled to take place in March and April.
Speaking ahead of the upcoming tour of Pakistan, Usman Khawaja says it will be "special" to play in the country he was born in. https://t.co/FBnDmXsRTJ
The unknowns surrounding this series will be heightened by the fact that this is the first overseas Test tour since the 2019 Ashes. Australia haven't won a Test series away from home since 2016, two years before Langer took over.
Just a couple of months later, the plan is for Australia to play a Test series in Sri Lanka in June-July. Australia were thrashed 3-0 in their last outing against Sri Lanka away from home.
Many players will be facing unfamiliarities due to long absences from the subcontinent. The unfamiliarities of a new trainer may compound on extended tours.
Australia will need to defy history to see any success across the Asian continent this year, all the while blooding the new head man in charge.
Can the new coach win the next T20 World Cup?
Australia will then seek to defend their inaugural T20 World Cup trophy when the tournament reaches its home shores in October and November.
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There are strong hopes for the Aussies to win consecutive ICC tournaments and being the host nation will heighten expectations further. Whoever is leading the side at that point will struggle to brush off those expectations.