Australian batter Usman Khawaja believes national coaches should be limited to four-year tenures because of the gruelling nature of the top job.
Speaking ahead of Australia’s first Test against the West Indies in Perth, Khawaja suggested the change to relieve the extreme demands placed on coaches.
“Australian coaches shouldn’t have more than a four-to-five-year window where they can coach because this job will get you down and things change so quickly with international sport,” he said.
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“I’ve had this conversation with (current head coach) Andrew McDonald before he became coach, and he actually agreed with me.
“When you’re a coach doing all three formats, they should have a timeline like the US presidency that is terms of four years.
“Coaching, it’s a very tough gig and to do it for a long time consistently, you’re always away travelling and under scrutiny.”
Khawaja’s comments come days after former men’s head coach Justin Langer again voiced his grievances with the national team on a podcast, claiming internal leaks from “cowards” caused his downfall earlier this year.
While how Langer exited the pivotal role has triggered rumours of a rift between past players and the current group, there has been widespread approval of McDonald as caretaker.
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“He’s a really good people person,” Khawaja said.
“He understands the game very well, he’s very critical.
“He can analyse a game extremely well, being a captain in the past and obviously having a bit of coaching experience now. I think he’s fitted in well. And I know for a fact the guys love him.”
Under Cricket Australia’s ongoing system, the national head coach overseas all three formats of the game.
With that in mind, Khawaja said intense criticism of McDonald following Australia’s failure to make the T20 World Cup semi-finals was unreasonable.
“We’re still No.1 in Test cricket,” he said.
“We’ve played some really good Test cricket over the last year. It’s just getting overshadowed.”
Aussie quick Josh Hazlewood agreed, claiming the “cut-throat” nature of the tournament meant Pakistan played in the decider despite having lost three games, while Australia failed to progress to the knockouts having lost just one group match.
The recent one-day stand-in captain, also believes claims McDonald is “soft” are flawed.
“He’s a man’s man,” he said.
“He’s a great player-manager. He’s so adaptable to every player.
“Sometimes you have 15 players on tour. Every player is different and he just understands what they need at certain times. I’d say he’s more hands-on than any other coach I’ve had.
“Whether that’s positive or negative feedback or just discussions all the time about what can we do here to get better. His cricket brain is unreal. He never doesn’t have an answer, really. He’ll come up with something.”
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