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MELBOURNE, Aug 26: Former Australia captain Allan Border has answered a last-minute request to coach Australia in this week’s one-day series in Kenya following the withdrawal of John Buchanan who has a back injury.
Border joined captain Ricky Ponting’s 14-man squad on a flight out of Sydney on Monday for the triangular series in Nairobi involving Pakistan and Kenya starting Thursday.
Buchanan, 49, was in charge for 15 games of Australia’s world record winning streak of 16 consecutive Test matches and also helped guide captain Steve Waugh’s team to a world record of 14 consecutive One-day Internationals without defeat.
A former Queensland opening batsman who was appointed Australia coach in October 1999, Buchanan replaced World Cup-winning coach and former Australia opener Geoff Marsh.
He is expected to return to assist Ponting for the ICC Champions Trophy starting in Sri Lanka on September 12.
Border, 47, played 156 Tests and scored 11,174 runs, both world records, averaging 50.56 with the bat and also captaining Australia to victory in the 1987 World Cup.
He is now an Australia selector and had been preparing to coach the Australia ‘A’ team in their seven-game one-day series against South Africa ‘A’ in Johannesburg starting next week.
Buchanan suffered lower back pain during Australia’s training camp in Brisbane on Saturday and has not responded to treatment, the Australian Cricket Board said in a statement.
LEEDS: All-rounder Andrew Flintoff will undergo a hernia operation this week which could sideline him for up to six weeks, keeping him out of the fourth and final Test against India as well as next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.
An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman said Monday: “He will see a specialist on Wednesday with the view to having an operation on Friday. He will probably be out for between four and six weeks.”—Reuters
