Jason Gillespie, the Yorkshire head coach, has confirmed he will not be applying for the vacant position of Australia’s bowling coach.
The 41-year-old, who has overseen back-to-back County Championship titles since his appointment in late 2011, was sounded out for the role by Darren Lehmann, his close friend and Australia’s head coach, over the weekend.
Lehmann, who last month named his former Australia team-mate Gillespie as the No1 target for the job, is in the UK for meetings of the ICC cricket committee at Lord’s and had spent Sunday watching his former club’s Roses fixture against Lancashire at Headingley.
That evening, during a mainly social visit to Gillespie’s family home outside Leeds, the position was outlined in full. However, the time that would be spent on the road and the requirement that Gillespie give up his winter role as head coach of Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League means Lehmann is now forced to look elsewhere.
“There was always going to be speculation in light of [being named by Lehmann] and I can confirm he came to my place and we had a meal and a chat,” said Gillespie. “He brought up the fact there was a role coming up but I want to make it clear there was no job offer from Darren. He was merely gauging my interest.
“I said: ‘Thanks for the chat,’ and: ‘I really appreciate it, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ But I then informed him that I wasn’t going to put my name forward and that I wasn’t going to apply for a role with Cricket Australia.”
The former Australia fast bowler, who has four young children based in Britain, explained: “Do I want to be away for 250-plus nights a year? At this point in time in my life I’m not prepared to be away from my family for that length of time.
“I’m a young coach and I’m still learning a lot. I’m enjoying my roles and it’s not on the radar.”
Gillespie, who was interviewed for the role of England head coach last summer before missing out to his compatriot Trevor Bayliss, said he would not be applying for any international roles and will now focus on Yorkshire’s current campaign, one in which the club are eyeing their first hat-trick of County Championship titles since the 1960s.
Speaking on BBC Radio, he added: “I’m not looking too far ahead. Obviously we’ve got a lot of cricket left this season and then with the Strikers at the end of the year. I’m enjoying my roles. You never rule anything out in professional sport, things do change and things can change. But at this point in time I’m very comfortable.”
The news represents a boost for Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, and chief executive, Mark Arthur, who made the shrewd decision to allow Gillespie two months off a year to coach Adelaide Strikers. That role furthers his limited-overs experience and allows him more time back in his home state of South Australia.
