Warne wants Lehmann as Australia's coach

Shane Warne believes Darren Lehmann would be the perfect coach for Australia as the search continues for Tim Nielsen's replacement. Lehmann is in his first year as Queensland's mentor but Warne believes his old-school approach would be perfect for either the vacant head coach role or a position on the selection panel.

"I think Darren Lehmann is absolutely outstanding - as a coach or in some senior role involved in the team or as a selector," Warne told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday. "I think he's got a really good understanding of the young guys, he's got a great understanding of old school and what's required to perform.

"[There's] old-school '70s and '80s - sit down and don't say a word and let the experienced people talk - to the new way where you play one game you think you've played a hundred and you're part of the furniture. Somewhere in the middle is about the right way."

Warne was famously critical of John Buchanan during his team at the helm of Australia's side, believing that Buchanan complicated things unnecessarily. Warne once said that international teams should not have coaches, but rather team managers to act as a facilitator for the captain, and he believes "old-school toughness" is a key requirement for whoever gets the job.

"That hard work, get in the nets and train hard for two hours, forget the ice baths, physios, calories, stretching," he said. "All those sort of things, which are important in modern-day sport, and you should have them, they have a place - [but] I just think you need someone with old-school thoughts - a bit of hard work, a bit of the new stuff and mix and match.

"It doesn't matter how many computers you want to look at, pie charts or all those rubbish things, you have to physically do it. Whoever they appoint, hopefully it's someone like a Darren Lehmann if it's not a Darren Lehmann."

Cricket Australia has started a global search for the new head coach, who will also have responsibility for directing the coaching strategy down through the states. Steve Rixon, the Australian team's fielding coach, is considered one of the front-runners due to his strong relationship with the captain Michael Clarke.