Adam Griffith appointed Cricket Australia national fast bowling coach

Cricket Australia [CA] have appointed Adam Griffith, a highly experienced coach and former Tasmania fast bowler, as the new national pace bowling coach in a role that has been recreated to help develop Australia’s next generation of fast bowlers.

The role was first advertised back in October as an Australia-based position to oversee the management of fast bowlers across international and domestic programmes, in a bid to prevent the spate of injuries that have been occurring and ensure a more co-ordinated approach to the handling of Australia’s quicks.

Griffith, 46, brings a staggering amount of experience to the role, sitting underneath Australia men’s coach Andrew McDonald and current bowling coach Daniel Vettori who will continue to travel with the men’s team. He will also report to CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver, having worked previously with him in Western Australia [WA].

Griffith is currently Victoria’s bowling coach but has been head coach of Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes. Prior to taking on the head coaching role in Tasmania, he was WA and Perth Scorchers senior assistant coach under Justin Langer. He has also been a long-time bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore [RCB] in the IPL and has worked with San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC. He has done short stints with the Australia men’s team on bilateral tours in 2012 and 2016 and the 2019 ODI World Cup.

Griffith’s appointment comes at a time when Australia’s fast bowling depth is coming into sharp focus with Australia’s big three in Pat Cummins, 31, Mitchell Starc, soon to be 35, and Josh Hazlewood, 34, unlikely to continue to play all three formats consistently in the short to medium term.

Griffith will be based in Brisbane at CA’s Centre of Excellence and implement a national strategy to develop fast bowlers. He will also oversee the preparation of national fast bowlers, as well as step in as coaching support for Australia A teams and Australia when Vettori is absent due to franchise commitments. He will also be the point-person for developing fast bowling coaches and coordinating with state bowling programs.

Griffith’s experience and knowledge of three state programs and his work with a number of Australia’s bowlers across various levels will be important as there has been some friction between CA’s high performance unit and the states over the management of some CA contracted bowlers as well as domestically contracted bowlers on the fringe of national selection. There has also been a spate of injuries across the last seven months that has severely tested Australia’s depth across four different international series over three formats.

Jhye Richardson and Cameron Green are both recovering from significant surgeries and Griffith has worked with both of them in their junior days in WA. Griffith was a key figure in the rise of Riley Meredith and Nathan Ellis to becoming Australia white-ball representatives. He was also the coach who convinced new Test allrounder Beau Webster to bowl medium pace for Tasmania and oversaw his transition from offspin. More recently he has worked closely with young Victorian quick Sam Elliott, who is enjoying a breakout year in domestic cricket, and has overseen Will Sutherland’s recovery from stress fractures in his back.

His work in the IPL at RCB, where he worked with Green, Josh Hazlewood and Mohammed Siraj at various stages, is also significant as CA try to navigate the management of their bowlers in the rapidly evolving franchise era as players look to take IPL and T20 opportunities during periods when CA would prefer them to rest or undergo specifically tailored preparation for upcoming international series.

McDonald was thrilled to secure a coach of Griffith’s calibre for the role. “I’m delighted Adam will bring his extensive experience to Cricket Australia as National Pace Bowling Coach and become an important part of our coaching set up,” he said. “Adam’s expertise across all formats will be invaluable in the preparation of pace bowlers for Australia’s national men’s teams.”

Griffith will complete the domestic season with Victoria in his current role as bowling coach under Chris Rogers, with the team currently sitting second in both the Sheffield Shield and the Dean Jones Trophy, before moving to Brisbane to take up his new post.

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