Tim Nielsen

Timothy John Nielsen (born May 5 1968 in London, England) is a former South Australian state cricketer and is currently the assistant coach of the Australian cricket team.

Neilsen played 101 first-class matches for his state between 1990-91 and 1998-99.

Tim Nielsen was confirmed as John Buchanan's replacement as the coach of Australia on 5th February 2007. Nielsen, who became the hot favourite when Tom Moody withdrew from contention, will take over the role after the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Like Buchanan, Nielsen played first-class cricket in Australia but never reached international level. He played the last of his 101 games a wicketkeeper-batsman for South Australia in 1999 before he moved into coaching, first with the Redbacks and then as an assistant to Buchanan with the national team.

Nielsen, 38, is currently the head coach at the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence at Brisbane, meaning he has worked with a number of the new crop of players who will over the next few years work their way into the Australia team. He mentioned Ben Hilfenhaus, Adam Voges, Mitchell Johnson and Tim Paine as players who might break into the Test team in the next few years.

Nielsen said it would be a huge challenge to fill the holes left by the retirements of champions like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath but he believed Australia could remain the world's No. 1 team regardless. "You can't replace superstars," Nielsen said.

"You're not going to get two blokes who come in and take over their workload and their results. I think what we need to be conscious of is making sure we have 12 to 15 players coming and trying to move forward together as a group and try to replace the 1200 wickets in maybe little bits and pieces."

It is unclear yet whether Nielsen will accompany the team to the World Cup, which begins in the West Indies next month. His contract will run until the end of Australia's 2009 Ashes defence.

External links

• Cricinfo article on Tim Neilsen