ADELAIDE: Australian cricket team’s coach Darren Lehmann has said that Michael Clarke’s aggressive captaincy reminds him of the way his late friend and mentor David Hookes played the game.

Lehmann played several seasons with his fellow South Australian cricketer Hookes, who also played 23 Test matches for Australia and was was tragically passed away in 2004.

“Obviously, Hookes was a very aggressive character and the way he played, trying to get a win at all costs — and Michael Clarke is very much like that as a captain. He’ll want to drive the game and get a result,” Lehmann told Fox Sports.

“You have five days, you’ve got plenty of time, but sometimes you have to take a gamble. I do think about [Hookes] a lot.

"I don’t think you ever get over that sort of thing. From being there on the night [Hookes died]; it’s not a great thing to look back on. I’m a lot better with it now, but at the time it was really hard to focus on cricket.

“It gave me a better perspective on life, to be perfectly honest. At the end of the day, we are only playing a game,” Lehmann added.

Lehmann was appointed coach of the Australian team after Mickey Arthur’s shock axing on the eve of the 2013 Ashes.

One of the first issues Lehmann had to deal with was the rift between Clarke and then vice-captain Shane Watson, the details of which were revealed when Arthur took legal action over his dismissal last year.

Talking about this, Lehmann said: “We just talked, We all talk now. It’s really open in the dressing room, [it’s] an honest dressing room — they’re fantastic.

“Everyone in the group gets on, they’re really close, which is great to see, and we talk about any issues that come up now really openly. It’s very pleasing. The players have got to enjoy what they’re doing and I think that brings the best out in them.

“I’m pleased with the way they’re enjoying themselves on the ground, being aggressive and playing a hard brand of cricket.

“But what they’re doing is enjoying playing the game. [When I took over as coach] they were great at trying to change the way we play a little bit. We’ve got a great group of players, they bought in, the senior players are fantastic, the captain was great. And we went to the pub for a quick beer,” Lehmann expressed.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014