Mike Young is the current Australian cricket team fielding coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

 as well as former minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 and Australian baseball

Baseball in Australia

In Australia, baseball is a game that is played in all states and territories of the country, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has always been one of the leading nations...

 manager

Manager (baseball)

In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...

, player and coach. On 6 December he was appointed by the Indian cricket team

Indian cricket team

The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....

 as a fielding consultant on a three-week assignment.

Playing career

Young attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

University of Wisconsin-River Falls

The University of Wisconsin–River Falls is a liberal arts undergraduate and graduate university and a member of the University of Wisconsin System. UW–River Falls is located in River Falls, Wisconsin on the famed trout fishing Kinnickinnic River. The campus consists of 32 major buildings, ten of...

 and he was the team's MVP in 1978. After graduation, he managed to land a contract to play in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 Honkbal Hoofdklasse

Honkbal Hoofdklasse

The Honkbal Hoofdklasse is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation . Games are played principally on weekends...

 baseball league and he played there in 1979 and 1980 and realized that there were other opportunities for American players to ply their skills around the globe. He sent his resume around and was contacted in 1981 by the Queensland Rams

Queensland Rams

Queensland Rams compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. The Rams were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as Queensland until 1988. Between 1988 and 1999, the Claxton Shield was awarded to the winner of the Australian Baseball League...

, an Australian Baseball League team, which he also player-coach

Player-coach

A player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches, or as assistant coaches....

ed and led to a national championship (the Claxton Shield

Claxton Shield

The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team...

) in 1982.

America

Because the Australian and American seasons do not overlap, Young was able to pursue opportunities on both continents, and in 1985 landed the job of coach with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays

Medicine Hat Blue Jays

The Medicine Hat Blue Jays were the Toronto Blue Jays rookie-level affiliate in the Pioneer League beginning in 1978 and remained with their parent club for 25 seasons. They played their home games at Athletic Park. Over the years, the club generally struggled on the field and with attendance, but...

, his first in organised baseball. In 1989, he managed the Bluefield Orioles

Bluefield Orioles

The Bluefield Blue Jays are a minor league baseball team of the Rookie Appalachian League representing the twin cities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Bluefield, Virginia. Beginning in 2011, Bluefield will be affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays. The team plays their home games at Bowen Field, a...

 in the Appalachian League

Appalachian League

The Appalachian League is a Rookie-class minor league that began play in 1937 with one year of inactivity in 1956. From 1937 to 1962, it was a Class D League. Teams are located in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee...

 and the Wausau Timbers

Wausau Timbers

The Wausau Timbers were a minor league baseball team.The team began as the Wausau Mets in 1978, but left the affiliation with the New York Mets and went co-op...

 in the Midwest League

Midwest League

The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...

 in 1990. He was a coach with the Rochester Red Wings

Rochester Red Wings

The Rochester Red Wings are a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins major-league club. The Red Wings play in Frontier Field, located in downtown Rochester.The Red Wings were an...

 in 1991 and 1992, then returned to managing with two seasons in the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

 organisation.

Australia

At the same time, he was becoming a major player in the development of baseball in Australia

Baseball in Australia

In Australia, baseball is a game that is played in all states and territories of the country, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has always been one of the leading nations...

, landing a coaching job with the Australian national team. He managed the team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He was twice named the International Baseball Federation

International Baseball Federation

The International Baseball Federation is the worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as overseeing, deciding and executing the policy of the bat-and-ball sport of baseball at the international level...

 coach of the year, in 1997 and 1999, for his work with the Australian national team. This included its results in two Intercontinental Cups

Intercontinental Cup (baseball)

The Intercontinental Cup is a baseball tournament between the members of the International Baseball Federation . It was first held in 1973 in Italy, and was held every other year following until 1999....

, a bronze medal in the 1997 tournament and then to a gold medal at home in 1999. Young's work down under coincided with a period when Australian baseball was booming, producing Major League players like Dave Nilsson

Dave Nilsson

David Wayne Nilsson is a retired Australian professional baseball player who played as catcher for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers from to . He was an All-Star in 1999, becoming the only Australian player to appear in an All-Star game...

, Mark Hutton

Mark Hutton

Mark Steven Hutton , was a right-handed pitcher who last played in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds on 21 May 1998....

, Cam Cairncross

Cam Cairncross

Cameron Cairncross is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who debuted for the Cleveland Indians on 20 July, , and pitched his final game on 1 October of that same season....

, Shayne Bennett

Shayne Bennett

Shayne Anthony Bennett was an Australian rules footballer who played for North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League , and a right-handed pitcher, who last played in Major League Baseball for the Montreal Expos on 15 August 1999.The younger brother of fellow North...

 and Chris Snelling

Chris Snelling

Christopher Doyle Snelling is a former Major League Baseball outfielder of Christopher Doyle Snelling is a former [[Major League Baseball]] [[outfielder]] of Christopher Doyle Snelling is a former [[Major League Baseball]]...

, all of whom reached the major leagues. This boom is linked to Young's work, as he is the one who developed the idea of the Australian Baseball Academy, which is jointly funded by Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 and aims at grooming Australian baseball talent. The number of Australian players signed by MLB has quadrupled since the Academy's foundation.

Cricket

Young's career took another interesting twist in 2000 when the Australian cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 federation approached him for help. Fielding

Fielding (cricket)

Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...

 has long been an under-developed aspect of cricket, as teams have concentrated on developing bowlers and batsmen. The Australians, observing how fielding was a central part of baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, decided to exploit an opportunity by having Young coach their players on catching, throwing and positioning. Young was appointed as an assistant coach up until 2005 when his contract was not renewed and instead moved back to Chicago to manage the Rockford Riverhawks

Rockford RiverHawks

The Rockford RiverHawks are a professional baseball team based in the Rockford, Illinois suburb of Loves Park, in the United States. Currently, the RiverHawks are a member of the Frontier League, which they previously played in from 2002 until 2009. From the 2002 season to 2005, the RiverHawks'...

. During the 2005 Ashes series

2005 Ashes series

The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

 the Australian teams fielding had slipped and lost the Ashes

The Ashes

The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

 to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 for the first time since 1987. John Buchanan

John Buchanan (cricketer)

John Marshall Buchanan is the former coach of the Australia national cricket team and of Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League. John Buchanan is a King's Old Collegian and is also an old boy of The Southport School, located in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia...

 then made the decision for Australia to have a full-time fielding coach and Young became speculated in the media as the first baseball coach to coach a national cricket team and announced he would like to finish his managerial career doing it.In January 2011, Young came out in support for the United States Youth Cricket Association

United States Youth Cricket Association

The United States Youth Cricket Association is the largest organization in the United States devoted to the promotion of the game of cricket among young people and is an Associate Member of United States of America Cricket Association. USYCA promotes cricket in America by donating cricket sets...

, modeling the organization's apparel at a photo shoot on the banks of the Yarra River

Yarra River

The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, only hours before the Aussies were to take on the English in a One Day International match.He is also the current fielding coach of the Indian Premier League

Indian Premier League

The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...

 team Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers known in short as DC or 'Chargers' is a cricket franchise that represents the city of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League...

.