Batting guru open to Aussie return

Highly-rated batting coach Michael Di Venuto will “never say never” to a return to the Australian side but insists he’s “really happy” coaching England’s up-and-coming stars in UK county cricket.

Di Venuto, the Tasmanian opener who scored a staggering 25,200 first-class runs, served as Australia's batting coach from 2013 until 2016.

It was a period in which Steve Smith and David Warner became two of the best batsmen in the world, with the former paying tribute to Di Venuto's calming influence during his first Allan Border Medal acceptance speech in 2015.

The 45-year-old departed in 2016 to take up the head coaching role at UK county side Surrey and this year guided them to their first Championship in 16 years. He’s also seen several of his players, Rory Burns, Sam and Tom Curran, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and Mark Stoneman, make their Test debuts for England in the past 18 months.

Back in Australia this summer following an invitation from Adelaide Strikers coach Jason Gillespie, Di Venuto says he’s happy in south London.

"You never say never because you don't know what's around the corner," Di Venuto told AAP of a hypothetical full-time return to Australia.

"I'm really happy with what I'm doing at the moment. I work with some wonderful people at Surrey."

Di Venuto’s former state teammate Ricky Ponting recently cited the dearth of former top-level Australia players involved in coaching as a key factor in the ongoing struggles of the national men's team.

While Di Venuto never played Test cricket – he played nine ODIs in 1997 – he’s one of a number of Australian coaches currently working at clubs and franchises overseas, including Ponting (Delhi) and Gillespie (Sussex).

"It's been a topic of conversation for 20 years, about having the right people at the right places at the right times," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"Whether that's the cricket academy (now absorbed into the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane) or the states, or the (under) 19s or 17s around the state set-up, I'm just not sure enough attention is being paid to coaching around Australia.

"I think it might be the reason why we're struggling to find those (top-level) players now.”

The fact Di Venuto never played a single Test underlines how Australia's batting depth has declined since their golden era in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Di Venuto, loved and lauded by players for his ability to help them mentally and technically, points out it is an unprecedented summer for Australia's batting order without their banned stars.

"There's a lot more pressure on them because the team has lost its two consistent run-scorers. Our two superstars aren't allowed to play," he said.

"It's going to be hard work. Obviously the win (in Perth) will do a lot for their confidence, we've just got to be patient with these guys.

"It's not like what it was back in the day, but you can't worry about that. Everyone just has to get behind these boys.

"Because they're clearly good players. It's just going to take time for them to adapt to international cricket, especially when you haven't got the two superstars that are easy to bat around."

Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh, who have played a combined 73 Tests, will shoulder the biggest burden in the Boxing Day Test as Australia hunt a 2-1 lead in their four-match Domain Test series against India.

The veterans will be flanked by three batsmen to have made Test debuts in recent months plus either Peter Handscomb or Mitch Marsh, who are fighting for the final spot in the top six.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar