Troy Cooley appointed interim Australia coach for SA tour

Cricket Australia (CA) has appointed Troy Cooley Interim Coach for Australia’s upcoming Tour of South Africa, following Tim Nielsen’s resignation as Australian Team Coach last week.

Cooley, 45, is currently the Head Coach at CA’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Brisbane, and since 2006 has been Australia’s Bowling Coach as well as its Assistant Coach in the last two years. In 2009, Troy was Australian Coach for the last three ODI’s during Australia’s 6-1 series victory over England in England, which immediately preceded Australia’s victorious ICC Champions Trophy campaign. Cooley was also Head Coach of the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe in July this year. CA’s General Manger Cricket Michael Brown said: “Troy has filled this role successfully in the past, and has worked extensively with all players within the Australian set-up and with our younger squad members at CA’s CoE. Troy has advised that he will not be an applicant for the Head Coach role, given his significant and important duties at the CoE. This appointment will therefore allow the Australian squad continuity as they attempt to cement their number one ODI ranking and attempt to climb the ICC Test rankings.”

 Troy Cooley said: “I feel excited and comfortable coming into this ‘caretakers role’ knowing that Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Tim Nielsen have been planning this South African campaign for a while now. My immediate task will be to come up to speed with their plans and work with the players and support team to ensure the preparation is spot on for a successful tour.

My working knowledge of the Australian team and our opposition will no doubt be an asset in the short term as we look to build on the successful tour of Sri Lanka. My role is to ensure all players have what they need to prepare for the tour and to oversee the support staff to ensure the best possible results.”

As acting coach, Cooley will also be an acting national selector, including for the South Africa T20 and ODI squad selections due to be announced later this week. Meanwhile, CA is recruiting a General Manager Team Performance (GMTP) and has also advertised for a new full-time National Selector as well as two part-time Selector roles, all positions recommended by the recently-tabled Australian Team Performance Review (ATPR). Once appointed, the new GMTP will be involved in the recruitment of a new Head Coach, which is also a newly-created role recommended by the ATPR, with national team coaching but also national Australian cricket coaching responsibilities.