BBL 2019-20 | Michael Klinger appointed Melbourne Renegades head coach
Big Bash League's all-time highest run-getter Michael Klinger has been appointed as Melbourne Renegades head coach for the upcoming season of the league. The former Australian player will replace Andrew McDonald who now serves as the assistant to Justin Langer in the senior men's national side.
A legend for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League, Klinger retired from the sport last season as the competition's all-time leading run-scorer, with a total of 1947 runs in eight seasons for the Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers. With one century and 12 half-centuries, Klinger was part of two title-winning Scorchers side under Justin Langer.
He also won three titles in the state-based Big Bash competition with Victoria and South Australia prior to the BBL starting in 2011. With the rich experience that he has, which again validated thanks to three T20 internationals for Australia in 2017, defending champions Melbourne Renegades snapped him up as their next head coach and their batting coach.
"To be given the opportunity to coach the current BBL champions is obviously very humbling and a fantastic honour. I've played with and against a number of players in the squad and I'm looking forward to working alongside such a talented playing group. Andrew has set up a terrific platform and I'm ready to take that forward this season," Kilinger was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.
"I've been fortunate to represent some outstanding organisations throughout my career and the lessons I've learned along the way leave me feeling as well prepared as I can be for the challenges that will inevitably emerge throughout the season."
Klinger will effectively replace Andrew McDonald who has joined the Australian team as Langer's deputy while he will work simultaneously with Rajasthan Royals as their head coach. Klinger wanted to become an Australian selector too but George Bailey beat him to the role. Klinger's appointment, however, has been lauded by Cricket Victoria's General Manager of Cricket Shaun Graf who said that Klinger was the standout choice for the Renegades despite his lack of coaching experience.
"We are pleased that we were able to secure a person held in such high esteem. The qualities that made Maxy (Klinger) such an accomplished player are the qualities that will set him up for an excellent coaching career. He's well-prepared, well-structured and an excellent man manager with fantastic leadership experience," Graf said.
"We know he'll receive strong support from Finchy (Aaron Finch) and the rest of the team, as well as the other coaches. We are very excited to have Maxy on board and we look forward to providing the support and structure he needs to get the most out of his coaching career."
At Renegades, Klinger will be supported by Andre Borovec and Lachlan Stevens, who will remain the team's assistant coaches, while Dimitri Mascarenhas taking over as Renegades' bowling coach. He is currently working with the Renegades' WBBL team but may again be used with the BBL side.