(Reuters) – Cricket Australia have appointed fast bowling great Dennis Lillee as an advisor, days after spinner Shane Warne panned the board and said cricket people needed to be running the team rather than ‘muppets’.
Lillee would provide coaching services, guidance and mentoring to Australia’s emerging fast bowlers as well as the national team, Cricket Australia (CA) said on their website (www.cricket.com.au) on Wednesday.
“Lillee will be available face-to-face and on mobile to the squad, but won’t travel extensively abroad with the national team,” it added.
“He will work closely with full-time bowling coach Ali de Winter as Australia prepare to tackle India in a test series next month and then the highly anticipated Ashes series starting in July.”
The fast bowler took 355 wickets in 70 test matches and was held up by Cricket Australia on Tuesday as someone who disagreed with Warne’s criticism of Australia’s controversial player rotation policy.
“He’s 100 percent in agreement with the selection panel with managing the load and development of players,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said.
“You’ve got Shane Warne saying one thing, Dennis Lillee saying another. It’s not a black and white issue.”
