Former New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin in contention for new Australian bowling coach job

Cricket Australia is believed to be closing in on a new national pace-bowling coach, and a former New Zealand all-rounder is among the key contenders. Find out more in LEG BUYS.

Former New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin is among the contenders for Cricket Australia’s new national pace-bowling coach position.

CA is believed to be closing in on an appointment for the fresh position, advertised in October, which was established to unify the management of the country’s quicks, working with states to help manage quicks who aren’t nationally contracted given the attritional nature of bowling fast.

It is a separate position to that of men’s team bowling coach, currently held by Daniel Vettori in addition to the former Black Caps skipper’s job as coach of the Indian Premier League’s Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Franklin, 44, played 31 Tests for NZ and also works with Vettori as bowling coach at the Sunrisers.

James Franklin, right, is a former New Zealand international. Picture: AAP

Ex-Tasmania coach and Australian bowling coach Adam Griffith – now an assistant coach with Victoria – is also understood to be in the mix, as is Sri Lanka’s head of high performance Tim McCaskill, who had worked at Cricket Victoria for two decades before moving to Sri Lanka at the start of 2020.

Former South Australia and Victoria paceman Rob Cassell, these days Tasmania’s bowling coach, is another in the frame according to industry sources.

While Australia’s frontline quicks have proven remarkably durable over the past 18 months, the nation’s pace depth was challenged at various points through 2024, culminating in teenage West Australian Mahli Beardman being called up to the one-day squad in England with just one state match under his belt.

“We’re looking for someone to bring passion, drive and expertise to lead our national strategy to develop world-class pace bowlers, which will include overseeing the preparation of pace bowlers for our national teams, providing pace bowling coaching support to the Australian men’s and Australia A men’s teams, and supporting pace bowling coach development across Australian cricket,” the job advertisement read.

Australian assistant coach Daniel Vettori was a long-term teammate of Jame Franklin. Picture: Getty Images

The position is based in Brisbane.

Vettori, a longtime teammate of Franklin’s, is a close ally of men’s team coach Andrew McDonald. However their employment arrangements differ, leading to Vettori’s absence during the Perth Test against India to attend the IPL auction in Saudi Arabia.

Cassell, along with Clint McKay, has been one of the rotating cast of fill-ins who have helped the team in Vettori’s absence.

Brad Hodge, Lachlan Stevens and Mike Hussey have also been semi-regulars as assistants, while Matthew Wade also bobbed up during the summer to complement the primary quartet of McDonald, Vettori, Michael Di Venuto and Andre Borovec.

LIST DECISIONS

With the Big Bash League’s regular season ending in a fortnight, teams are already turning their minds to list management calls beyond 2024-25.

Cricket Australia’s call to restrict the involvement of several Test players through the latter stages of the campaign is likely to shape recruitment and retention strategy beyond this season.

Key officials at several clubs are understood to have been left frustrated by having large chunks of salary cap space dedicated to players who barely or do not front.

CA last year introduced a “priority player bonus,” in essence offering an extra $51,000 of cap space to clubs for any player ruled out of seven or more regular-season BBL matches because of national team commitments.

Originally published as Former New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin in contention for new Australian bowling coach job