Dashing opener Shane Watson has a few candidates in mind for the vacant Australia coach’s post even as the nation’s Cricket Board (CA) is desperately searching for a suitable candidate for the job following Tim Nielsen’s sudden resignation.
CA is scrambling to find a replacement for Nielsen before Australia leave for South Africa tour in less than three weeks time.
Senior batsman Watson, however, said that he knows a few people who can take up the challenge but refrained from disclosing their names.
“I got a few people in mind who I think will do a brilliant job and have got exactly what the team needs but I am not going to single out any individual because I’ll get myself in trouble,” he said.
“I can’t really say exact names but there’s no doubt that there is a big opportunity in Australian cricket at the moment. It is an exciting phase.
“Obviously, we haven’t had the greatest couple of years, especially in Test cricket but if we get the perfect person for the job, we can turnaround things,” added Watson, who is here to play in the Champions League Twenty20.
The Australia vice-captain, who will represent NSW against Cape Cobras in the Twenty20 event tomorrow, said although he didn’t have a successful Test series in Sri Lanka recently, especially with the bat, it would have little bearing on his performance in this tournament.
“I’ve played a lot in the subcontinent, especially in India and had quite a bit of success here. I’ve played in Chennai as well and (had) some good performances here,” Watson insisted.
“This is my first T20 game for NSW and I am excited. I’ve watched the Champions League for the last few years.
Hopefully, we can have a very successful campaign.”
The all-rounder was also confident that NSW, who has fielded a relatively young and inexperienced team in the tournament, would do a great job in the event.
“We’re very lucky to have a lot of young talents coming through as well as some experienced guys like Stuart Clarke, Simon Katich and myself. I think it’s a brilliant mix,” Watson said.
“NSW continue to produce outstanding young players and some of these young guys like Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Phil Hughes and David Warner are very, very talented,” he added.
