Boof wants Ponting, Langer involved

Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann is keen to get likes of Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer involved with his side as Australian coaching prospects continue to be in high demand on the world stage.

Australian coaches have been popular choices for various positions around the world over the past few years; Trevor Bayliss recently edged out Jason Gillespie and Justin Langer for the England job, Ponting led Mumbai Indians to the Indian Premier League title this year and Mike Hussey, who worked with South Africa during the World Cup, was earlier this year linked to the vacant India coaching job.

With several members of Australia's golden era moving seamlessly into the coaching ranks, Lehmann says he wants some of the country's greatest ever players to remain involved with Australian cricket.

Lehmann, himself a dual World Cup winner as a player, is contracted until June 2017 and has no plans to walk away from the job anytime soon.

The 45-year-old has previously used the likes of Shane Warne as a coaching consultant during his time in charge of the Australian team and says Ponting and Langer would be welcome additions to the coaching staff.

Image Id: ~/media/3E06377CF36F4765BE0F63CA45912838

Lehmann and Langer in their playing days // Getty

"We’d love to have those greats around, it’s a pretty easy one for us,” said Lehmann, who has previously annointed Langer as his likely successor.

"We’ve got to afford him (Ponting) first and foremost but we’d be mad not to have them for that simple reason that they’ve played a lot of cricket, they’re experienced, our guys love the past players coming in to speak to them so we certainly look at any options that Ricky would want to entertain and we would use him.

"There’s always dialogue behind the scenes with all our former greats to be perfectly honest ... they’re always welcome.

"We have that really open dressing room where anyone who has worn the Baggy Green can obviously come in at any time. We’ve had blokes sit in meetings as well and that’s OK.

"The more they know how we’re going about it, I think that makes it easier for them to be judgemental and give a balanced view."

Lehmann has often spoken of the need for him to take time off during the year due to the heavy workload and busy travel schedule required of an international coach.

Cricket Australia has been sensitive to workload management in the past; Bayliss deputised for Lehmann for Australia's T20 series against South Africa last November while Steve Rixon did a similar job on the 2013 ODI tour of India.

News Ltd is reporting Langer, Australia's batting coach between 2009-2012, has been sounded out for a similar role in the near future, with the aim to refresh Lehmann for bigger series on the calendar and also see how the Western Australian deals with the role of Australian coach.

News Ltd is also reporting Ponting has been approached to take up an advisory role with the Australian team.

Langer, Gillespie and Ponting - who played 49 Tests together between 1998 and 2005 - have enjoyed great success early in their coaching careers.

Gillespie guided Yorkshire to the English Championship title last year, Langer has guided Western Australia and Perth Scorchers to six domestic finals and three titles in three years, while Ponting's Mumbai Indians won nine of their past 10 matches to storm to the 2015 IPL crown.

One of the main barriers preventing any of the trio taking up a permanent international coaching role would be family. Langer and Ponting have both spoke of a desire to spend time with their young children, while Gillespie and his wife have three children under 10 years old.

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