Di Venuto defends Aussie Test team culture

FORMER Australia batting coach Michael Di Venuto has defended the culture of the Test team and wants administrators to come under similar scrutiny to the players following the ball tampering scandal.

Di Venuto spent three years working under former coach Darren Lehmann before joining English side Surrey in 2016 and remains close to his for- mer boss and banned duo Steve Smith and David Warner.

The former Tasmania opener believes the superstar pair and Cameron Bancroft have endured savage character assassination in the wake of the incident in South Africa which has led to a cultural review of the team being conducted by Cricket Australia.

“I didn’t think there was any cultural issues during my involvement with the Australian team,” Di Venuto said.

“We had some good success with Ashes wins and the World Cup. I loved being a coach under Darren Lehmann and I love the culture he created. And the players loved the environment as well.

“Obviously with the events that have happened recently, all of a sudden people are blaming culture and things like that.” The four-man review panel will be chaired by former Test batsman Rick McCosker with the results to be revealed before the team head to England for an ODI series in June.

Cricket Australia’s #beatengland social media campaign during the Ashes, in addition to a 4-0 podium used to celebrate the series win, were widely criticised and Di Venuto hinted it resulted in mixed messages being sent out to the team from the governing body.

“Take it back a couple of months when we won the Ashes. There wasn’t too many people complaining about anything then,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see what comes out of this culture stuff that is going on in Australian cricket.

“Hopefully they start from the top and work their way down to the team.”