Australia's new coach Darren Lehmann
has pushed the importance of fun and a balanced perspective on life to
remedy a team culture that has variously been described as toxic,
insular, selfish, undisciplined, and just plain stupid. Lehmann has
openly desired the national coaching job for quite some time, but given
that it has fallen into his lap a mere two weeks before the first Ashes
Test, his initial message to the touring team could not afford to be
elaborate.
Upon the squad's arrival in the medieval town centre of Taunton, Lehmann
sat down his players and staff to set out a simple but clear direction
for the Australian team, both on the field and off it. Relieving the
tension of the past few days in Bristol and London was high on Lehmann's
list of priorities, while also ensuring focus shifted instantly to
Wednesday's tour match against Somerset.
"Hopefully with the enjoyment factor, we'll get that going for a start,"
Lehmann said of the culture he wished to create. "When you start
winning games you have a lot of fun so we need to start winning some
games, simple as that. It's about getting all the lads and everyone in a
direction we want to go. We're going one way and that is forward and
everything starts afresh
