Waqar Younis misses out on Australia job

Waqar Younis is no longer in contention to become Australia's new bowling coach after being turned down this week following an interview. Cricket Australia is searching for a replacement for Craig McDermott, who vacated the position in May, and Waqar was keen to take on the position and work with Australia's emerging crop of fast bowlers.

The Tasmania bowling coach Ali de Winter is another contender for the role and was given the chance to audition as the stand-in mentor on the recent one-day tour of England. Interviews for the job did not take place until after the squad returned from that trip and Waqar said on Wednesday he was no longer in the running.

"I was interested but it didn't work out between me and Cricket Australia," Waqar told ESPNcricinfo. "It didn't really work out. They did interview me. I guess what I'm offering and what they're looking at are two different things. I don't know, I haven't really asked them the details but that's how it stands at the moment. It has just been in the last couple of days."

Waqar took 373 Test wickets for Pakistan during a 14-year career and was considered a master exponent of reverse swing, and has since then served as bowling mentor and head coach of Pakistan. Now based in Sydney, Waqar said he remained keen to become involved in coaching in Australia in some capacity.

"I'll probably be looking to get into the system here in Australia and do some work here, maybe with the younger guys," he said. "The whole [Cricket Australia] talk has just finished now so I've probably got to start thinking about different things.

"I'm coaching one of the franchises for the Sri Lankan Premier League and then I've got the Twenty20 World Cup, I'm going to be doing commentary, studio work back in Dubai. I'm pretty full-on in the next few months."

Waqar was the highest-profile candidate to publicly declare his interest in replacing McDermott, who delivered impressive results before quitting after only one year in the job. James Pattinson, one of Australia's most promising young fast bowlers, said during the England tour that he would like a former Test player to be handed the position, but whether that happens remains to be seen.