Hick coy over senior coaching prospects

Denzil Pinto 11:41 18/02/2014
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  • Former England batsman Graeme Hick said he is planning a long-term stay as Australia Under-19 coach after admitting he has learned quite a lot about different aspects of coaching.

    Hick, who also leads the Australia A team, was appointed as high performance coach of Cricket Australia’s (CA) Centre of Excellence in September, a role which allows him to work with the Under-19s.

    “The Under-19 group is good to work with and they are very keen to work and achieve greater things in the game,” Hick told Sport360°.

    “It’s a great time to work with them and if I’m still doing this job in the next five or 10 years then I’m really happy and I feel I am doing something right and doing my job,” he added.

    When asked if he has any plans to coach a senior team in the future, the Zimbabwe-born Hick, whose performance will be reassessed by CA ‘every couple of years’, replied: “I don’t know. At this moment I don’t have those aspirations myself now as a coach.”

    The 47-year-old, whose side must beat Bangladesh tomorrow to advance to the quarter-finals after losing by 36 runs to Afghanistan yesterday, said this year’s edition will be a learning curve for future tournaments.

    “Individuals never stop learning. I will take a lot from this (edition) to the next (Under-19) World Cup in Bangladesh as there are a lot of similarities between the conditions here in UAE and Bangladesh,”

    Having played in the Ashes series (1993 and 1994-95), Hick knows what is required to play in the biggest Test series in cricket, and although he doesn’t believe any of his current players will be called up to the next Ashes squad, he insists some of them will play in the future for their national team.

    “I’d be pretty surprised if they are selected (in the Ashes squad) because it’s only in 17 months time. Certainly one or two will play in the Ashes in the future,” said Hick, who scored 3,383 runs in 65 Tests and 3,848 runs in 120 ODIs for England.

    “All are very talented kids. It all depends on how hard they work between now and for the next few years and the decisions they make,” added the top-order batsman, who retired from international cricket in 2001 who was a prolific run-getter in first class cricket scoring 41,112 runs, including 136 centuries.

    Assessing Australia’s chances in this year’s tournament, Hick said: “Personally I think this tournament is wide open. There are five or six teams in to win it. If you ask me who would be playing in the final, I wouldn’t know who to pick.”

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