KKR sack Buchanan

JOHN BUCHANAN

Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday sacked controversial Australian coach John Buchanan after their poor performance in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Kolkata team finished last in the eight-team IPL in South Africa last month, losing 10 of their 14 league matches.
"Buchanan has informed Knight Riders that despite his hard work over the past two seasons, he has not achieved everything that he set out to," KKR co-owner Jay Mehta said in a statement.
"We have amicably agreed that Knight Riders will release him from his contract with immediate effect."
The Kolkata team also failed to make it to the semifinals in the inaugural IPL edition in India last year, when Buchanan was cricket manager.
"I would like to state that John is a great coach. He had a vision for Knight Riders and did not waver from this vision," said Mehta.
"Unfortunately, it has not brought the results that are so necessary to this franchise."
Buchanan is set for a coaching role with England ahead of the Ashes series against Australia.
He has been asked to work with England's player development programme, mainly the youth and the 'A' sides and is due to talk to coach Andy Flower in the build-up to the first Ashes Test in Cardiff on July 8.
Buchanan, who had a successful eight-year stint as Australia's national coach, sparked a controversy ahead of this year's IPL when he floated the idea of having multiple captains in Twenty20.
Effigies of him were burnt in Kolkata by fans of former India captain Sourav Ganguly who believed the concept was meant to dilute the powers of their popular 'Prince of Kolkata'.
Buchanan left the Australia job after the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies as elite cricket's most successful coach, with a winning record of 70 per cent after becoming national coach in 1999.