Shelley Nitschke has been named the new head coach of the Australia women's team for the next four years, after having taken on the role in an interim capacity since Matthew Mott left earlier this year.
Nitschke, who had been an assistant coach with Australia since 2018, was in charge of the side as they secured gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and had been the frontrunner for the full-time position. A former allrounder who was capped 122 times, Nitschke is currently Perth Scorchers head coach in the WBBL, a role she shared with her previous Australia position, and she will see out her contract with them this season before leaving.
"I'm honoured to have been given this opportunity to lead the team full-time and to continue to build on the legacy created by Matthew Mott," Nitschke said. "While I enjoyed my time working as assistant coach, I feel the time is right to step up and lead this group in what's shaping as a new era with a new-look coaching group and the retirement of Rachael Haynes.
"The loss of Rach will no doubt be felt, but it presents a great opportunity for others to put their hands up both from a leadership perspective as well as with the bat and in the field. Our challenge is to ensure the team continues to evolve; we've seen teams like India take their game to the next level and it's important that the players feel they have the support they need to keep getting better every day.
"Our team continues to go from strength to strength and I'm excited to see what this group can achieve next; there's some important cricket on the horizon including the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in February and away Ashes next winter, so it's a great time to be involved."
Nitschke's first assignment as the permanent head coach will be the T20I tour of India in December. Australia next play on home soil in January against Pakistan before heading to South Africa to defend their T20 title.
The make-up of Nitschke's support staff is yet to be confirmed. Dan Marsh and Jude Coleman were her assistants at the Commonwealth Games after Ben Sawyer left to be head coach of the New Zealand women's team.
"We're delighted to appoint Shelley as head coach of our world champion women's team," Ben Oliver, the general manager of high performance and national teams, said. "She did an outstanding job in an interim capacity during the Commonwealth Games and was the clear standout candidate in the recruitment process.
"Shelley is an incredibly well-respected coach with a proven track record. She knows what it takes to be successful at an international level and brings significant coaching and playing experience to the role.
"She's been a great mentor for the spin group since joining as an assistant in 2018, helping develop them into some of the world's leading bowlers, and we look forward to seeing what the team can achieve with Shelley at the helm."
