Victorian coaching role vacant as interim leader says no

Victoria have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in Marsh Sheffield Shield fortunes in the second half of the season, but interim head coach Lachlan Stevens has indicated he does not want the role full-time.

Stevens was appointed to the role in November after Victoria head coach Andrew McDonald joined the national men's team ranks as an assistant to Justin Langer ahead of the Test series against Pakistan.

Despite enjoying the support of the Victoria playing group, Stevens has told Victoria's cricket operations chief Shaun Graf that he does not want the role for next summer.

"I have had numerous discussions [with Stevens]," Graf told Nine.

"The players really like him and love the way he goes about his work.

"But he feels at the moment that he is not really thinking about the head coach role."

A former South Australian and Queensland batsman, Stevens had been an assistant at Victoria since 2015-16 and was previously Western Australia and Perth Scorchers head coach.

Victoria had already lost two of their first three fixtures before McDonald's sudden departure. They lost against Queensland, drew with New South Wales and had the controversial abandoned match against Western Australia due to an unsafe pitch at the MCG before the Big Bash break.

But since the Shield resumed Victoria have been on fire, winning all three of their matches and soaring into second spot.

This week's tenth and final round of Shield cricket has been cancelled by Cricket Australia in response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, but no decision has been made yet about the final which is due to be played from March 27.

If the final does go ahead, Victoria would be well-placed to push for a chance at a fifth Shield title in the past six seasons.

Victoria will hunt for a full-time coach over the off-season with the likes of Melbourne Renegades rookie coach Michael Klinger in the mix, along with former England and NSW Blues head coach Trevor Bayliss and David Saker, who is now in a fast bowling coaching role with the Sri Lanka team.