Trevor Bayliss to be acting Australia coach for South Africa T20I series

Trevor Bayliss

Melbourne: New South Wales Blues and Sydney Sixers coach Trevor Bayliss will step in as the acting Australia coach for the Twenty20 Internationals against South Africa later this year.

With the United Arab Emirates tour against Pakistan ending just days before the start of the Australian international summer in early November, regular coach Darren Lehmann will use the week away to prepare for the long summer ahead which includes Australia's Test series against India and the 2015 ICC World Cup.

Trevor Bayliss

"With Lehmann in the UAE focused on the Test matches, we have appointed Trevor to focus on the T20 team to give them the best chance of winning the series. At the same time, on his return, Darren will be able to refocus on bringing the One-Day International (ODI) team together in a very big year for 50-over cricket," Cricket Australia (CA) executive general manager team performance Pat Howard said Monday.

"Darren will have had the Zimbabwe tri-series and the UAE tour in quick succession immediately before the biggest ever summer of cricket in Australia. So it's important he has some time to prepare for each series.

"The summer finishes with the World Cup which is then closely followed by a tour of West Indies and then an Ashes Tour. The dual benefit of this decision is that it presents a great opportunity for Trevor to work with the team and is another example of Australian cricket working collectively as ‘one team'.

Bayliss has previously coached at international level and more recently led New South Wales to a Sheffield Shield title. He also won the Big Bash League (BBL) and Champions League T20 with the Sixers and the Indian Premier League (IPL) title with Kolkata Knight Riders.

"I'm very grateful for the opportunity to work with some of Australia's best T20 players. I'm very much looking forward to this opportunity," Bayliss said.