"No contact" - Trevor Bayliss not approached for Australia's vacant head coach position

As Cricket Australia (CA) is on the lookout for a full-time head coach, multiple options are being explored. While Andrew McDonald has filled the position on an interim basis, former England head coach Trevor Bayliss was reportedly in line to take over from him.

However, Bayliss has denied the reports, mentioning that CA has not initiated the talks with him so far. The World Cup winning coach messaged "no contact" to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, when the two Australian newspapers sought answers from him related to the rumours.

With Bayliss not approached by the CA as of now, it points towards a high possibility that McDonald may continue to coach the Aussie side, if given clarity of his responsibilities. Chairman of Selectors George Bailey gave a slight indication of the same on Tuesday as he proposed that Bailey along with two assistant coaches Michael Di Venuto and Jeff Vaughan can share the role within themselves on "specific tours".

"Essentially what you’re after is trying to find the very best person for the role, and you want to keep them in there as long as possible. If that means that they don’t do absolutely every tour that’s fine," Bailey said as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The three assistants, including Andrew as interim coach, have all had head-coaching experience. Even if you just looked internally, there are three guys there that could manage taking on head coach roles for specific tours if that was required," he added.

Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann suggested splitting the responsibility across three different formats as one person will find it hard to effectively perform the job. But Bailey dismissed Lehmann's theory, claiming it will create an imbalance within the side.

"It’s the people involved who would be key to that. This [white ball component of the Pakistan tour] is a good example, isn’t it?" Bailey mentioned.

"There are different series where some players are available, and some players aren’t, just through managing multi-format players. Imagine if you were in charge of just one format, and you weren’t getting access to the best players all the time, then that can have an impact. But if that’s something you’ve worked through with the other coach then that can be worked through.

"I don’t think there’s an easy answer. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all [approach] and I don’t necessarily think whichever structure is landed on by Cricket Australia will necessarily be the right one when you next have to make that appointment," he concluded.

The moment Justin Langer relinquished the head coach's position, rumours were afloat that Bayliss will now come into the charge of the role, as he has often expressed his keenness in the past. However, with nothing decided yet, CA's course of action remains to be seen.