Buchanan was in charge as Australia won a record 16 straight Tests
John Buchanan has confirmed he will step down as Australia's coach after the World Cup next year.
The 53-year-old, who took over from Geoff March in 1999, wants to spend more time with his family but plans to stay involved with Cricket Australia.

"There's a shelf life in coaching and I believe that after the World Cup will be the appropriate time to hand over the reins to someone new," he said.

Buchanan has guided Australia to 24 Test series wins and only two defeats.

But one of those losses came in last year's Ashes series in England and he is keen to avenge that on home soil this winter before giving up the job.

Australia have a hectic schedule over the next few months with a triangular one-day series against India and West Indies and Singapore to be followed by the ICC Champions Trophy, the Ashes and one-day VB Series on home soil, and finally the World Cup in the Caribbean next March.

"I am extremely excited about the challenges ...we are playing three huge tournaments in a brief period of time with a view to winning them all," said Buchanan.

Who's next

When he does step down, Australia will not be short of candidates from whom to choose a replacement.

Tom Moody, Greg Chappell, Dav Whatmore and Bennett King are currently in charge of the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and West Indies national teams.


The best manager of people I have worked under

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting on Buchanan

And they could also consider Tim Nielsen, who is currently in charge of Australia's Centre of Excellence.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said they would start the search for a new coach at a management committee meeting next month.

He praised Buchanan for the "extraordinary success" achieved by the team in recent years.

"Since taking on the role as coach, Australia has played 267 international matches and won approximately 75% of these games.

Among their achievements was a world record run of 16 successive Test wins, which finally came to an end in India in 2001, when they suffered their first series defeat with him in charge.

"This is a record that cannot be matched by any other international side and is a testament to the role John has played with the team," he said.

In the same period, South Africa have the next best winning percentage of 55.04% in all forms of the game.

Coaching methods

Buchanan was appointed by Australia after a successful period in charge of the Queensland state side.

He is renowned as a highly original thinker about the game and was among the first to use detailed video analysis as part of his method for preparing the team.

During the 2001 Ashes tour to England, he drew on the teachings of Chinese warlord Sun Tzu to try and inspire the team.

Players have also been encouraged to give talks on subjects ranging from wrestler Hulk Hogan to the Bee Gees to improve their confidence.

And Buchanan even went as far as employing the "close-eyed technique", in which players bat and catch with their eyes shut.

FOURTH TEST, THE OVAL
England 173 v Pakistan 190-2

Mohammad Yousuf looked determined to make England suffer

A dominant Pakistan reached lunch on day two of the Oval Test on 190-2, already 17 runs ahead of England.

The home team took just one wicket in the first session - when the stylish Imran Farhat fell to Matthew Hoggard after completing a quickfire 91.

Mohammad Yousuf, dropped twice on Thursday before reaching double figures, was looking ominous on 46.

England's chances of winning the match are dwindling, although they have already sewn up the series.

Play began half an hour late because of early morning rain.

And though showers looked imminent at various stages, the players got through to lunch without any further delays.

The first over of the day was bowled by Sajid Mahmood, who started brightly and bowled quickly.

But he struggled to get enough seam movement to consistently trouble the batsmen.

Farhat and Yousuf got into their stride with some elegant cover-drives and the run-rate was threatening to get out of hand.

Andrew Strauss then elected to replace Mahmood with Monty Panesar.

However the spinner's first ball was confidently lofted over mid-on for six by Farhat.

The 24-year-old left-hander was on course for his first century against England.

But Hoggard, continuing to attack his weak area just outside the off-stump, finally elicited an edge which Marcus Trescothick snapped up to end a stand worth 78 precious runs.

Farhat had made his runs off just 112 balls, allowing his team to seize control of the match, but he trudged off the ground unhappily after missing out on a third Test century.

The wicket saw the return of Mohammad Hafeez, who had reached eight on Thursday evening before retiring hurt with a knee problem.

He could have been lbw to Monty Panesar almost immediately, but umpire Darrell Hair declined an appeal that had a lot going for it.

Neither was Yousuf entirely certain against Panesar initially, but he put Pakistan into the lead with a sweep for four off the Sikh tweaker.

The two right-handers looked ready to produce another sizeable partnership when lunch came to give England a brief respite.