Cricket Australia announce Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh as joint vice-captains under Paine
CRICKET Australia have broken from tradition to name two players as understudies to skipper Tim Paine ahead of the two-Test series with Pakistan in the UAE.
JOSH Hazlewood and Mitch Marsh have been announced as joint vice-captains for the Australian Test team as part of coach Justin Langer’s new era.
The pair emerged from an extended leadership group, voted on by players, and will be understudies to captain Tim Paine.
Marsh, captain of Western Australia, is now only an injury to Paine away from taking charge of the national team in the upcoming series against Pakistan, with Hazlewood still in Australia on the comeback from injury.
“Justin Langer and Tim Paine have a clear vision for the Test team, and Josh and Mitch are invested and ready to support the coach and captain on this journey,” national selector Trevor Hohns said.
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“And this was a fundamental part of the process. It was not a process designed to find the next Australian Test captain, but to find two vice-captains who will support and help drive the team’s goals and objectives.
“Josh and Mitch display great leadership qualities, and we were extremely impressed by their passion and energy to help guide Australian cricket into this exciting new era.
“Our vision is to create great cricketers and great people, and we are extremely fortunate to have such terrific young men charged with responsibility of upholding the high standards and values we and Australian cricket fans expect of their Test team.
“Josh has shown he is a leader among the playing group, and we felt it was important to have a representative from the bowling group. He’s calm under pressure, communicates well and leads by example on and off the field.
“Mitch has successfully captained Australia A, Australia U19 and Western Australia.
“He is an extremely popular member of the team, he has great humility, and given his lineage. he understands and respects the responsibility which comes with representing Australia and Australians.”
Langer has driven the leadership group model which he took from AFL and Hohns said the decision to appoint two vice-captains took into account the demands of the modern cricket environment.
“We believe the new leadership model will best support the captain. It is a successful model used across various sporting codes around the world, and we see it benefiting the group not just from a tactical perspective but also to help drive the team’s values and standards on and off the field,” Hohns said.
“We also feel the new model provides great balance. There is strong and even representation of both the batting and bowling groups, which is important when making decisions which are in the best interest of the team.
“The demands on the modern cricketer were also factors we took into account, including the amount of cricket they play in a season, to what happens in the event a member of the leadership group is missing through injury.
“We look forward to the first Test against Pakistan, and we’ll watch with great interest as our leaders lead the team into what is going to be a huge summer of cricket.”
Marsh and Hazlewood began playing against each other as young teens divided by state lines, but will be united in leading Australia forward into a new era.
“I think (shared vice-captaincy) is something different for cricket but that’s the world these days,” Marsh said.
“We live in the modern world and modern game of cricket.
“I think Josh and I will do everything we can to try and make Tim Paine’s role easier and that’s how I see the vice-captaincy role.
“Like every other person in this team we’ll lead to the best of our ability in Australian cricket and make Tim Paine’s job as easy as possible.
“We started playing against each other WA and NSW when we were under-15s and then we played under 15s Australia together and all through the junior process and now we’re here.
“Josh is just an honest country fella. He’s extremely professional in the way he goes about things, he’s a great player, he’s a great bowler and he’s a great Australian. He’ll be fantastic in this role.”
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Originally published as Cricket Australia announce Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh as joint vice-captains under Paine