Hick 'surprised' by Lehmann comments

Australia

Former England batsman Graeme Hick has cautioned Australia, ahead of the Ashes series in November.

Former England batsman Graeme Hick has cautioned Australia, ahead of the Ashes series in November.

Hick, appointed Cricket Australia's new high performance coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane earlier this week, was responding to coach Darren Lehmann's recent claims.

Lehmann, whose side suffered a three-nil loss to the English across five Tests earlier this year, insisted the opposition played "dour" cricket and "made some inroads on getting into batsman Jonathan Trott's head."

The right-handed Trott, indeed, endured a trying stretch of form against the Australians, enduring two ducks during the Test series and two more in the ODIs.

"I'm a little bit surprised by one or two of the comments that have come out from the Australian team, because at the end of the day England scored more runs and won the series three-nil," Hick told <i>ESPNcricinfo</i>.

"That was without all their batsmen firing. There might be a bit of banter going around pre-Ashes, sowing a few seeds there. Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Trott didn't really fire. Pietersen scored the one century, but he wasn't at his best. That could be worrying for Australia."

The 47-year-old, who played 65 Tests and 120 ODIs between 1991 and 2001, will replace ex-Test cricketer Stuart Law, who has since become Queensland's new head coach. The job will largely focus on the development of the A and Under-19 teams.

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