Monday, 17 September 2018:
Simon Katich has underlined his coaching credentials, helping the Trinbago Knight Riders secure back-to-back Caribbean Premier League titles.
Trinbago outclassed the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Monday's final at Brian Lara Stadium, restricting the visitors to 9-147 then overhauling the total with eight wickets in hand and 15 balls remaining.
Katich also masterminded the Twenty20 franchise's successful campaign in 2017.
Cricket Australia (CA) hired Ricky Ponting as a T20 coaching consultant earlier this year. CA view Ponting as a key figure in helping the national side prepare for the World T20, a tournament that Australia are yet to win and will host in 2020.
But with Ponting expected to be unavailable for the T20 leg of next month's tour of the United Arab Emirates, CA could do a lot worse than enlisting Katich to help fellow West Australian Justin Langer.
Katich, who like Ponting continues to juggle commentating and coaching commitments, has never performed a formal coaching role for CA and rowed with the governing body during last year's pay dispute.
But the 43-year-old has strong relationships with many Australian players, having provided informal advice while commentating both home and abroad in recent years.
The former Test opener also has plenty of Indian Premier League coaching experience, having earned rave reviews for his work with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Trinbago dominated the CPL decider, bouncing back from qualifying-final and final-round losses to Guyana.
Katich was forced to rejig his batting order for the finals following the departure of Chris Lynn, arguably the most potent batsman in the defending champions' squad.
"It's never easy when you're the hunted team. A lot of teams came hard at us this year," Katich said.
"To everyone's credit we remained calm and got the job done, saved our best for last."
Fawad Ahmed, the legspinner dumped from Victoria's contract list earlier this year, was signed on the eve of the tournament by Katich and it proved a masterstroke.
Fawad finished the CPL's leading wicket-taker, snaring 22 scalps at 13.77.
Trinbago blaster Colin Munro's record-breaking 567 runs at 51.54 made him the leading run-scorer of the tournament plus man of the tournament.
"Simon's just backed me since day one," Munro said, having belted the winning runs during his sixth half-century of the event.
"When you've got the backing of a coach like that it makes it a hell of a lot easier."
Guyana, who were captained by Australian offspinner Chris Green in the final, suffered a game-changing collapse of 6-30.
