Darren Lehmann

Darren Lehmann Biography

Darren Lehmann is a former Australian cricketer. He was born on 5 February 1970 in Gawler, South Australia.

He was a left-handed batsman, known for his aggressive nature. Besides being a batsman, he was also a part-time left arm orthodox bowler.

Background

Lehmann arrived at the state cricket scene very early. He was just 17-years old at the time.

Before making his debut in 1998, he had made more runs and played more first-class games than any Australian player at that time.

Because of his amazing ability to score runs and tremendous record in the domestic cricket, he was on the edge of national selection throughout the 1990s. However, he made his debut in 1996.

Debut

Lehmann made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on August 30, 1996.

The debut didn’t go great for him as he just scored two runs in 4 balls.

He played Test cricket for the first time against India on March 25, 1998. He got to play in the first innings only and scored a decent 52 runs from 67 balls. He also went on to take one wicket.

However, he was dropped from the national side after his debut series and only became a regular player in the ODI team in 2001 and Test team in late 2002.

Rise to Glory

He rose to prominence in the ODI team in the year 1999. He even got the honour to hit the winning runs in the World Cup Final at Lord’s. By the 2003 World Cup, he had already become a key member of the team.

Low Points

He also had a bad patch in his career. He struggled a lot to cement his place in the Test side.

He was only able to do so at the age of 33. He also had a lot of ins and outs of the ODI side. He had to return home during the series against India in 2004 because of a torn hamstring. After a torrid time against Pakistan, he was dropped for good.

Club Career

He played for a lot of clubs during his career. He was a member of the Yorkshire’s victorious County Championship team of 2001. He also participated in the Indian Premier League and represented Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural season.

Records

Lehmann had a tremendous record in the first-class cricket.

Until Mike Hussey broke his record, he held the record of playing the most number of games before his international debut and also the record of the most number of runs.

He was the highest run scorer in Sheffield Shield/ Pura Cup history, with 13,635 runs at an average of 54.97.

Retirement

Lehmann declared his retirement from international cricket in 2007.

He played in the IPL after that and then took up coaching. He coached Deccan Chargers from 2009 to 2012 and then Kings XI Punjab in 2013. He also coached Queensland in the 2010-11 Big Bash T20 tournament.

He then became the coach of the Australian Cricket team when he replaced Mickey Arthur and has been working in that role ever since.