Ponting named Australia s T20I assistant coach

Melbourne Jan 9 (IANS) Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has been named the assistant coach for the Twenty20 International tri-series against New Zealand and England it was announced on Tuesday.

Australia will face New Zealand on February 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the first game of the series and the final will be played on February 21 in Auckland.

"There s a fair bit of talk about splitting the (head coach) roles up and I m just delighted my name is one that s come up for that permanent role down the track " Ponting was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.

"But we ll wait and see how this goes first. I know I d enjoy it if I had the opportunity to do it and if I could make it work in with the other commitments I have and with family time " he added.

Ponting praised current coach Darren Lehmann and said the two will enjoy working together.

"We re great mates. We enjoyed batting together and we enjoyed playing together so I ve no doubt at all we ll enjoy working together as coach and assistant coach " he said.

"I ve got a bit of a coaching bug I love being around the game and being around the best players and I love being able to feel like you ve got some impact on the way they play their cricket.

"It s very much an assistant s role Darren is obviously the head coach and hopefully we can work well together " Ponting added.

--IANS
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