Pat Howard’s challenge to team, officials in tough time for Australian cricket

PAT Howard has called on Darren Lehmann to reinvent himself as coach while urging the Australian team and officials to show resilience in a tough time.

PAT Howard has called on Darren Lehmann to reinvent himself as coach and expressed disappointment at the mixed messages broadcast by an under-siege selection panel, which could undergo a complete overhaul next year.

As day two of the second Test was rained out in Hobart, Howard accepted ultimate responsibility for the storm engulfing Australian cricket, and refused to speculate on his own future as the head of team performance.

Howard said he stood by his decision to lock Lehmann in as coach until after the 2019 Ashes and World Cup. Since then the Test side has gone on an embarrassing four-match losing streak that could extend to a fifth mammoth defeat against South Africa at Bellerive.

Asked whether the show of faith in Lehmann was premature, Howard said “not at the time it wasn’t” — a reference to the difficulties of hindsight — but did declare the coach had entered “uncharted territory” and may now need to “reinvent” himself.

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Howard lamented as “unfortunate” that selector Mark Waugh publicly promised Mitchell Marsh two Tests when that wasn’t the message being communicated behind closed doors, but denied that departing chairman Rod Marsh should walk from his post any earlier than the other selectors also off contract in June.

“Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh will go on and their contracts are due up at the same time as well, so they may not be staying either,” said Howard, who won’t contemplate his own position beyond next year until after the Test summer.

“I appreciate the pressure comes on Rod … but (exiting) them straight away doesn’t respect the work that they are doing at the time.”

Pat Howard addresses the media in Hobart on Sunday. Picture: Luke Bowden

Howard said the timing of Lehmann’s extension might look curious in retrospect, but while challenging Lehmann to change things up, he refused to back down from the show of faith.

“I’ve been working with Darren for a long time, I get to see him work,” he said.

“This is a great challenge for his coaching, I think he’s in uncharted territory for him as well and we’ve talked about that.

“This is a great chance for him to reinvent. He’s been contracted through past 2019, which is a huge year in the calendar, an Ashes away and a World Cup back-to-back.

“We’ve got a young captain with a coach that’s wanted to give the team and squad some stability. I make no apologies for that, I made the decision and I take accountability for that.

“If you are looking for the players to have resilience you want the people around them to have resilience so I expect Darren, me, Rod, all of us to show that exact same resilience we’re showing the players.”

Darren Lehmann has been urged to reinvent himself as coach.

Howard called for senior figures like himself, Lehmann and Rod Marsh to show resilience in a tough time just like is being asked of the players, and it would appear that if any senior heads were to roll it wouldn’t be until at least this Test summer is over.

Mark Waugh’s guarantees to Mitchell Marsh in a radio interview had not impacted trust on the ground in the Australian camp, according to Howard, but he said communication lines needed to be clearer between selectors.

“There was an unfortunate comment and I think it could have been construed in different ways … but I don’t want to put any barriers in the way of selectors putting their best team on the ground,” said Howard.

“I understand the mixed messages … I heard Darren say yesterday that there were no mixed messages about what Mitch Marsh was told by Rod Marsh. There was very clear messages between the two of them.”

Mitch Marsh was dropped despite public guarantees from Mark Waugh.

The Argus Review handed down in 2011 found there was a lack of accountability for performance and selection, and Howard accepted that the buck must stop with him.

“That’s me,” he said.

“I’ve got to make the people that report to me (accountable). Darren was asked is he under the pump and he said yes. Am I under the pump? Absolutely, as I should be.

“I think Australians expect that fight, and that’s a fair expectation.”

Originally published as Pat Howard’s challenge to team, officials in tough time for Australian cricket