Rixon wants more in the field from young players

Steve Rixon wants to bring more intensity to Australia's training regime, especially among the younger players, after being named the fielding coach on Tuesday. Rixon believes the standards of fielding in the Australia team have dropped since the glory days when Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were creating catching opportunities, and that's something he wants to change.

After a decade of working with the American Mike Young, the Australians will be drilled by Rixon during the next two tours, to Sri Lanka and South Africa. The initial short-term appointment is likely to become a longer association as Australia try to force their way back up from fifth in the ICC Test ranking table.

Their slump was not helped by the Ashes debacle, which began with a draw at the Gabba, where the Australians dropped seven catches. Rixon said in a developing side, it would be all the more important for such key moments not to missed, with less experienced bowlers less likely to find edges and force mistakes over and over again.

"We've got some world-class fielders, Ricky Ponting is one, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey," Rixon told ESPNcricinfo. "They're three of the older boys. That tells me there are a lot of youngsters that need to get back to some simple basics in the field like they do in the other aspects of their game and see if we can't move them forward. I have no question they are crying out to be helped and I think they will improve. But we're definitely not leading the way in the fielding anymore.

"If you think back to a lot of these eras, it was a little bit different when you had Warne and McGrath in your side, because even if you did drop a catch, it wouldn't be too much longer before McGrath would give you another opportunity. That, to me, is something we've got to be realistic with. In the changing of the guard, you don't have that ... So what we've got to do is make sure that when we have an opportunity, we're going to make the best of it."

And while the batting and bowling coaches, Justin Langer and Craig McDermott, have plenty of work to do in order to bring the younger players up to scratch and keep the veterans in form, the same can be said for Rixon. He said the struggles in Australian fielding could be traced to the quality of fielding at state level, and that was an area that needed to be addressed.

"It is a reflection on our domestic game, which is a bit sad," Rixon said. "I've seen some [domestic] games where the fielding is very, very good, and I've seen some games where the intensity level is down. Your intensity level comes from your preparation. If you prepare and train smart, you'll probably find you've got a little bit of an edge.

"It's not by accident those three older guys I talked about turned out to be very good fielders. They're all quite athletic, but more importantly, who does that little bit extra every time from a young age all the way through? These guys have done the extra work, so to me I just think there's a little bit in that as well. So we need to focus on the intensity of training."

Rixon, 57, will be by far the most experienced member of Australia's coaching staff, with 15 years as a first-class player and two decades as a mentor. That coaching resume includes four Sheffield Shield titles with New South Wales, two IPL triumphs and a Champions League victory with the Chennai Super Kings, and an impressive stint at the helm of New Zealand.

Although his official brief is as the side's fielding coach, Rixon is keen to help the side in other areas as they rebuild under the new captain, Clarke. He said he was looking forward to assisting the head coach Tim Nielsen in whatever ways he could as they aimed to arrest the slide down the Test rankings.

"I'd be very surprised if they didn't want to hear from that new set of eyes around the place," he said. "It's not about individuals, this is about a group going together and trying to get Australia back on track, to get away from looking at fifth position on a Test table ever again. We don't want to ever be seen or thought of in the same breath or thought as, say, the West Indies after their reign at the top of the tree. We need to recover quicker than anything the West Indies have done."