Darren Lehmann says 2019 Ashes could be his swansong as Australian coach
Apr 16, 2016 at 2:14 PM
Australia Coach Darren Lehmann said on Thursday that he cannot see himself continuing in the role beyond the 2019 Ashes series at home, with a recent bout of deep vein thrombosis providing a “reality check”.
The 2015 World Cup winning coach was admitted to a Sydney Hospital with a swollen calf, where the blood clot was diagnosed. Lehmann was forced to miss the T20 home series against India and the ODI series in New Zealand before being declared fit to oversee Australia’s test series against the Black Caps.
The 46-year old said that the medical scare was a wake-up call, with the former Australian allrounder still on medication and compelled to wear a compression stocking every day.
Lehmann, who took over from Mickey Arthur in 2013, said that the constant traveling takes a toll and he cannot see himself continuing in the demanding role beyond the 2019 Ashes.
“I think a shelf life if you have success is four to six years,” he was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald, expressing his reservations about continuing in a job that requires him to be away from home 300 days a year.
“I don’t think you could do that now; the job’s gotten bigger and bigger,” he said of what he thought about John Buchanan’s eight-year long tenure at the helm of a successful Australian side between 1999 and 2007.
“You’re travelling that much now and you don’t get a break because you normally don’t get injured. You’re on the road the whole time. If I got to 2019 that’d be six years. I couldn’t see myself going past that at all. I think my wife would kill me if I went past that.”
The medical scare and the stay at the Hospital has forced the Australian Coach to rethink his lifestyle and food habits.
“It’s like everything you get with those difficult situations, you get a reality check,” he said.
“You take stock of where you want to get to and what you want to do and all those sorts of things. It’s really just making sure you live a better lifestyle (rather) than sitting in bars -– and having conversations over water or peppermint tea. Just trying to work through those issues with diet and the regime of travelling day in, day out. But I feel good, it’s just one of those things that happens.”