Haddin joins Aussie coaching set-up

Brad Haddin has joined the Australia coaching staff for the coming Qantas Tour of Bangladesh with Greg Blewett vacating his position as fielding coach to return home and take a role with the South Australian Cricket Association.

Haddin, a veteran of 66 Tests and 126 one-day games, joins as the Bupa Support Staff as a High Performance Coach, contracted through until the end of 2019.

Haddin moved into Australian cricket's coaching pathway almost immediately after his playing days were ended during the 2015 Ashes series, moving into roles assisting with the NSW and Australia under-17 and under-19 squads.

Last year he served as an assistant with the Australia A squad in their matches with India and South Africa's 'A' squads in Townsville, alongside former Test teammate Ryan Harris. And earlier this year that duo stepped up to assist the national team on the Qantas Tour of New Zealand.

"I am thrilled to get the opportunity to work with this young group of players," Haddin said in a statement.

"I grew up in an era of players like Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting who gave Australian cricket a real identity in the standards of world-class fielding. They were the type of players who took it personally if the team wasn’t fielding well and that created a level for the rest of the group to aspire to.

"I want to hold this group accountable to that kind of standard and I believe we have the talent to do that. It will be hard work but I am looking forward to the challenge.

"Given my background is in wicketkeeping it will be great to be able to work with the 'keepers in the side and give them a sounding board."

Haddin and Blewett are both with the Australia squad who have today assembled in Darwin for a training camp ahead of the two-Test Qantas Tour of Bangladesh.

Blewett will return to South Australia after the camp when Haddin will formally take over the role for the Test series in Bangladesh, following which Australia play a series of ODI and T20 matches in India before the Magella Ashes gets underway in Brisbane on November 23.

Blewett had joined the Australia set-up under Lehmann in 2014, but now takes a high performance coaching role to focus on batting under West End Redbacks head coach Jamie Siddons.

He will also coach the state's under-19 players and work as an assistant at the Adelaide Strikers under head coach Jason Gillespie.

"I'm very passionate about cricket in this state," Blewett told News Corp. "Clearly there also was the lure of spending more time at home with my young family because I've lived a fairly selfish existence most of my life with all of the travelling for cricket.

"But I also want to help the Redbacks squads achieve good things, along with trying to broaden my coaching experience.

"The experience I gained from working with Darren (Lehmann) and the Australian team has been invaluable but I have a firm belief that you do a lot of your nuts and bolts coaching at junior level, so I'm looking forward to working with the under-19s group too."

Blewett's son Sam, 2, has become something of a golf sensation with the family's Instagram clips of the club-swinging toddler going viral, and landing him with sponsorship deals.

Blewett is South Australia's second all-time first-class run-scorer, with 9682 at 46.1, behind only Lehmann.

He played 46 Test matches in the 1990s scoring a memorable unbeaten Ashes century on debut at the Adelaide Oval in 1995. He finished with 2552 runs at 34.

Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann said it was a real coup to secure Haddin.

"It has been fantastic having Greg involved in the side, and we are really pleased he is staying within the Australian Cricket Coaching System to continue developing young talent in South Australia," said Lehmann in a statement.

"Brad had a wonderful career as a player for Australia and will bring a multi skill set to our environment. His primary focus will be on fielding, carrying on the good work that Greg has done, but will also work very closely with our wicketkeepers.

"Having someone with a pedigree such as Brad’s to bounce ideas off and fine tune their skills will be immensely valuable for our 'keepers," concluded Lehmann.

Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.

Bangladesh squad (preliminary): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Kumar Das, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subhashish Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sanjamul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mohammad Saifuddin, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan Raju, Al Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Muktar Ali, Tanbir Haider, Saqlain Sajib, Shafiul Islam.

11-17 August Australia pre-tour training camp, Darwin

18 August Australia arrive

22-23 August Tour match,Fatullah

27-31 August First Test, Dhaka

4-8 September Second Test, Chittagong