ECB-Employed Buchanan Backs Punter

Former Australia coach John Buchanan may be taking up a job with the ECB, but he has no split loyalties for the Ashes and is backing Ricky Ponting to extract revenge for 2005.

Buchanan was coach and Ponting captain as Australia lost that epic Ashes series in England in 2005, and despite a 5-0 whitewash in the return in Australia, the tourists are still desperate to win on English soil.

Ponting is still at the helm while Buchanan is taking up a coaching consultancy role with the ECB, but he is backing the Aussie skipper to make amends for 2005.

Buchanan, who is still good friends with Ponting, says that he will now take a stronger grip on the team with so many big players having retired and replaced by younger, inexperience stars.

"He is determined to turn the tables for 2005," Buchanan told The Times.

"When he led Australia in the past two Ashes, he was surrounded by good lieutenants, but he is now ready to take the captaincy issue forward and move from a consultative style to one of more direct leadership.

"I've always been a great fan of Ricky. He is an outstanding team man and he brings that to his leadership style, but it is clear this is now his team."

With only three other players apart from Ponting surviving from the 2005 series, the skipper will have an even bigger role to play in leading the Baggy Greens this time around.

Buchanan is in England this time around working with the old enemy, as he begins to develop a plan for bringing through the younger players in the international set-up.

The Aussie has worked with England Lions and the Under-16 and Under-19 sides, and has also held meetings with several county cricket chiefs.

"I'm having a few lovely lunches at various county grounds," he added about his new role.

"After that, I'll sit down with David Parsons (ECB performance director) and work out a way forward."

While winning three out of four Ashes series and two World Cups, less success for Buchanan has come at domestic level, with a disappointing spell at Middlesex and being sacked by IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders after they came last in this year's season.

"That's the fast route to having no hair and no job," said Buchanan, who says both domestic sides failed to look for long-term stability.

"Sometimes the process and results collide, other times they diverge. Both clubs wanted results to come immediately, but I was taking decisions for the long-term best interests of the clubs."