Australian coach Darren Lehmann has said that spin legend Shane Warne will be consulted to accelerate the development of teenaged Ashes debutant Ashton Agar before this week's third Test at Old Trafford.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Warne might expect a call from Lehmann after Agar caused only occasional trouble for Sussex in Australia's tour match at Hove, which followed his unhappy experience at Lord's, where he went wicketless and had no real impact as compared to England's rising star Joe Root and Graeme Swann.
Although former wicketkeeper Steve Rixon is officially the spinning coach, but his main responsibility is fielding, for which Lehmann said that they would turn to Warne for advice, without a proper spin-bowling technician on the Australian staff.
Stating that they would be mad not to use Warne and discuss spin bowling with him, Lehmann further said that they need Warne to talk more about the mental side of things rather than the technical side, although he added that they would keep the views channeled as Agar is only 19.
The report mentioned that although Agar had enjoyed a history-making Test debut with the bat at Trent Bridge, narrowly missing an incredible 100 at No. 11, he needed to work on his primary function, which is bowling.
However, Lehmann defended Agar amid suggestions that Australia was ready to turn to the more seasoned Nathan Lyon, or even play both on a dry deck at Old Trafford, saying that even though Agar is young, he has plenty of room for improvement, like Lyon, who is however, the more experienced player.
Stating that he was impressed with the way Agar bowled at Nottingham, Lehmann also said that even though he had a problem with his hip in the second Test match, he managed to struggle through that, although the coach added that Agar is aware that he did not bowl well enough and needed to get back to form as fast as possible.
