Coach Darren Lehmann has been cleared to join Australia’s Test team in New Zealand after suffering from deep vein thrombosis, Cricket Australia said yesterday. Lehmann has been sidelined since January 23 after he was admitted to a Sydney hospital with a swollen calf.
Batting coach Michael Di Venuto replaced him for Australia’s Twenty20 series against India and the one-day international tour of New Zealand, which started in Auckland on Wednesday. All the games have been lost.
“Darren has received clearance from specialists in Australia to travel on Saturday and return to work,” Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer John Orchard said in a statement Thursday.
Lehmann will fly to Wellington and remain there until Australia’s first Test against New Zealand starts on February 12. The second Test is in Christchurch on February 20. Di Venuto was confirmed as acting ODI coach for the Wellington match tomorrow and Hamilton on February 8. New Zealand thrashed Australia by 159 runs in the opening one-day international.

Bailey hits back at non-referral
finger-pointing
Australia batsman George Bailey has hit back at reports he was to blame for the non-referral howler that saw David Warner’s wicket thrown away and hastened his team’s slide to a record 159-run defeat against New Zealand at Eden Park.
Opening batsman Warner was dismissed lbw during Wednesday’s first one-day international and after a chat with non-striker Bailey, elected to walk rather than employ the Decision Review System (DRS).
The ball-tracking technology showed the
delivery flying well clear of the stumps and left-handed Warner bashed his bat into his pad in annoyance as he trudged off the ground.  The wicket left Australia on 39 for three in pursuit of 308 for victory and was the catalyst for a batting collapse that saw another three wickets tumble for the addition of only two runs as the visitors were eventually dismissed for just 148.
Bailey did the rounds of Australian talk radio shows yesterday and said Warner had actually ignored his advice. “I said, ‘What did it feel like?’ And he said, ‘High’. So I said, ‘Go for it’. And he turned around and walked off,” Bailey told Melbourne radio station RSN. “So, I don’t really know what more he wants from my end.”
Bailey said Warner had also remonstrated with him later in the dressing room. “He said, ‘I wasn’t that confident in what you said’. I said I’m not really sure what you’re after. I can’t be any more explicit than saying ‘go for it’,” he added.
Batsmen generally seek help with referrals for lbw decisions given the non-striker has a better view of deliveries but Bailey said the onus should not be on the player at the other end.
“You know, I reckon, if you’re out or even if it’s close and it’s up to you to make that call,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN.
The three-match one-day international series moves on to Wellington tomorrow with the sides also scheduled to play two Tests.