Tuesday 24 October 2017 11:11, UK
Australia coach Darren Lehmann says an increasingly punishing cricket calendar may leave him "no choice" but to split coaching duties.
Lehmann sees a time where he would work with a limited overs coach to allow him to solely focus on Tests.
The 47-year-old has missed several one-day and Twenty20 series in recent years because of health issues and a heavy workload.
Lehmann returns to lead Australia in the upcoming Ashes series against England after missing the recent limited-overs tour of India.
He told cricket.com.au: "I think it will get to a stage where I'll probably have to look at changing that set-up.
"I know speaking to (former England coach) Andy Flower for example... he didn't like it so much, but I think the way that the game is going, you've got no choice now."
England experimented with having a separate limited-overs coach under Flower but the roles have since been combined again under Trevor Bayliss.
Lehmann, who has coached Australia for four years, would be in favour of splitting the duties between Tests and limited-overs, rather than having three separate coaches for the game's different formats.
He said: "You can't split them three ways - Tests, one-dayers and T20.
"Some of the time there's no point another coach coming in, it's just logistical nightmares, so I think you'd probably go white ball, red ball."
Should Cricket Australia decide to divide the head coach roles, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Jason Gillespie and David Saker would be potential candidates.
Many players still excel in both formats but Lehmann envisages a future when there are entirely separate XIs for each format.
"Cricket is really getting specialised. You can see a time when down the track... I don't know how many years but there'll be really significant changes and the XIs will be separate for each format or in red-ball and white-ball cricket," Lehmann added.
"And that's happening now anyway, just because it's the only way you can keep the players on the park."
Australia's next match with the white ball is not until mid-January 2018 when they take on England in a five-match one-day series which follows on from the Ashes.
