Clarke defends coach Nielsen's decision to take a break

London, Sep 4 (ANI): Stand-in Australian captain Michael Clarke has defended coach Tim Nielsen's decision to take a break after the fourth game of the seven-match series against England, saying he deserves it.

Nielsen will rejoin the team for the Champions Trophy in South Africa later this month. During this period, bowling coach Troy Cooley will be the coach.

"He's been away from home for a long time. Like the players, who get the opportunity to have a break every now and then, I think it's just as important for our support staff, not just the coach, but all the support staff," Fox Sports quoted Clarke, as saying.

"There's going to be various times throughout everybody's career that they need a bit of time away from the game," he added.

Clarke further said that due to the back-to-back international series since last September, Nielsen was looking forward to spending some time with his family and friends back home.

"The players have the upmost respect for the coach and within the team we know we can continue to perform when Vinny (Nielsen) is gone, but he's a huge part of our team and giving him what's probably going to be a week off, I think it's the least we can do," he added. (ANI)