Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds To Join Australia's Coaching Staff

Former Australian legends Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds will join the Australian coaching staff as mentors. This initiative has been undertaken by Australia’s head coach Justin Langer so that former legends can guide the young guns of the team ahead.

Hussey has had a successful coaching stint with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Hussey will travel with the Kangaroos to South Africa later this month.

And Symonds will accompany the Kangaroos for the T20s against New Zealand in March. Both Symonds and Hussey have been legends of Australian cricket. They have been part of one of the most successful teams of world cricket ever.

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Besides, their experience will come in handy for a lot of young players in the squad right now.

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Mike Hussey Says He Loves Coaching

“I did a similar thing a couple of years ago and I found it a little bit awkward,” he said last year. “I didn’t know how much to say and how little to say. This time I feel a bit more confident about it … I’ve got a pretty good relationship with a lot of the guys anyway. I’ve played with some of them so there’s always some level of understanding. I do love coaching. The difficult thing is, do I want to do it on a full-time basis and be back on the road for 10 months of the year with a young family? That’s not something I’m interested in at the moment,” the veteran batsman added.

Hussey added, “I remember when I was playing, I loved having the past players come into the dressing room to be part of the team. But then when you’re out of it, you can feel a bit awkward and feel like you’re encroaching on their time and space. So this has made all that easier.”

Head coach Langer has initiated this step and finds it very important, especially for the young guns. He mentioned that such efforts have also been taken previously and has hinted towards continuing the same.

“One of the things we’ve tried to do is bring some of the legends back around the team,” Langer told reporters on Sunday. “Our young guys and all our players can learn so much (from them), they’re great mentors. We had ‘Punter’ (Ponting), we had Steve Waugh for the Ashes, we’re looking at getting Andrew Symonds to come to New Zealand with us and Mike Hussey is coming to South Africa. It’s a really good initiative,” Langer added.

Australia will travel to South Africa later this month. The tour will consist of three T20Is and as many ODIs. The Kangaroos will return to New Zealand and will play a series of three ODIs from 13th March.

Australia will look to win the T20 World Cup later this year. Another factor that proves to be in their favour will be that Australia will host the tournament.

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