Michael James Di Venuto (born 12 December 1973) is an Australian cricket coach and former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who represented both

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(in

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s) and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The bulk of his

career was spent playing for

Tasmanian Tigers The Tasmania men's cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield an ...

. After retiring from representative cricket in Australia, he continued playing for

Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic c ...

till July 2012, when he announced retirement from County Cricket. He has also previously played cricket in England for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. A left hand opening

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, his form for Tasmania throughout the mid-1990s earned him a call up for the

Australian national cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

in the

arena, although after nine games he was dropped. Like some of his contemporary Tasmanian teammates such as Jamie Cox, Dene Hills, and Shaun Young, Di Venuto can be considered unlucky to have not had a more successful international career, as he was playing at a time when the

was highly dominant, and difficult to earn selection for. After retiring from Durham, he was appointed Australia's full-time batting coach by head coach

Mickey Arthur John Michael Arthur (born 17 May 1968) is a South African-Australian cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer, who played in South African domestic cricket from 1986 to 2001. He has served as the head coach of the Derbyshire County Crick ...

, and was then head coach of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

from 2016 until 2020.

Early career

Born in

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Italian Australian Italian Australians () are Australian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Australia during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Australia. Italian Australia ...

extraction, Michael Di Venuto attended St Virgil's College, and began his cricketing career representing St. Virgil's Cricket Club. Michael's father, Enrico, and brother, Peter, were also talented cricketers, but were both surpassed by his own ability. Showing his talent from an early age, he soon joined North Hobart Cricket Club, who participate in the Tasmanian Cricket Association's TCA Grade Cricket Competition. It was in that competition that Di Venuto first made a name for himself. His form in the TCA competition soon drew the attention of state selectors, and Di Venuto was selected to make his first-class debut in the 1991–92 whilst still a teenager. In the 1992–93 season, he returned to club cricket to find some more experience. His return worked well, and he won the Roger Wolley Medal for man-of-the-match in that season's TCA Grand Final, guiding them to the championship in the process. In that season, he also scored a brilliant innings score of 187 against University, still the second-highest score in Tasmanian grade competitions. Following a move to Kingborough Cricket Club, he again won the award in 1996–97, helping them to the trophy as well. In all, Di Venuto played in 8 TCA grand finals for both clubs. In 2005–06, Di Venuto decided to return to the North Hobart Cricket Club where his grade cricket career had begun. Although his first-class career occupied much of his time, Di Venuto has returned to North Hobart occasionally, such as in March 2009, when a superbly-made 111 helped the Demons to victory over Clarence District Cricket Club to reach the TCA Grand Final, although the final was lost to arch-rivals

University of Tasmania Cricket Club The University of Tasmania Cricket Club, also known as the "Lions", represent the University of Tasmania in Tasmania's Grade Cricket Competition. Although many of the players are students, or former students it is not compulsory to be so, in o ...

First-class career

Di Venuto was called up to make his first-class debut against

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

at the age of 19. In a match played at the Gabba from 13–16 March 1992, Di Venuto came into the Tasmanian side for the first time. Although not performing exceptionally, his 33 not out showed he had the temperament to move onto the next level, and helped Tasmania to a total of 400/6 declared. The match ended in a draw, but Di Venuto was now in the minds of the Tasmanian selectors. The following season Di Venuto did not feature for his state at first-class level, but returned to grade cricket to refine his technique. The break worked. Di Venuto returned for the 1993/94 season, and scored 678 runs at 37.66, with a high score of 125 a highlight. Di Venuto's return also helped Tasmania qualify for the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

final for the first time ever. They played against the New South Wales Blues at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

, but the occasion of reaching the final proved too much, with New South Wales won by an innings and 61 runs. The following season he returned figures of 656 runs at 32.80 batting at number four, cementing his spot in the Tasmanian middle order. Di Venuto truly came to the fore in the 1995/96 season. His 791 runs at 43.94 saw him end the season as Tasmania's third most effective batsman, behind only experienced opener Dene Hills, and international legend

David Boon David Clarence Boon (born 29 December 1960) is an Australian cricket match referee, former cricket commentator and Australian cricket team, international cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1996. A right-han ...

. With his regular place in the order assured by the 1996/97 season, Di Venuto regularly moved into the number three spot to cover

Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and is the most successful captain in international cricket history, ...

's absence through international duties. Although his form dipped slightly at times during the season under this extra pressure, he still returned 799 runs at 39.95. This was Tasmania's third highest tally for the year, but was well overshadowed by Jamie Cox, who scored a remarkable 1349 runs at 67.45. Along with Ponting (850 at 70.83), they kept the Tiger's in the hunt for another final, although the season fell away with Tasmania finishing fourth. Di Venuto's form in the 1996/97 Mercantile Mutual Cup was just as impressive – in five innings he scored 274 runs at 68.50, including a high-score of 129 not out. This was the second highest season tally behind only

Queensland Bulls The Queensland men's cricket team or the Queensland Bulls is the representative cricket side in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments for the Australian state of Queensland: *Sheffield Shield: four-day matches with first-class status, sinc ...

batsman Jimmy Maher, and earned him a call up to the Australian One Day International side. His form for Tasmania in the late 1990s soon drew the attention of English county sides, and he signed for

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

for the 1999 season. He scored 1,133 runs for

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

but it was not enough to prevent relegation. Di Venuto has made the switch to Durham in readiness for the 2007 season, having served Derbyshire for eight years. Michael DiVenuto moves to Durham
Updated 10 October 2006 Upon his first County Championship appearance for Durham in April 2007, Di Venuto carried his bat as the number one batsman throughout Durham's first innings. LV County Championship – Worcestershire vs. Durham
/ref> Di Venuto repeated this feat just three weeks later, scoring a double-century against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

.LV County Championship – Durham vs. Kent
/ref> In August 2009 Di Venuto hit his highest score of 254 not out against former side

at Chester-le-Street.LV County Championship – Durham vs. Sussex
/ref> Di Venuto's successes with the

have been far greater. His 10,117 at 40.96 see him behind only Jamie Cox (11,812) as Tasmania's all-time leading run scorer. The mainstay of the top of the Tiger's batting order for over a decade, he is Tasmania's leading one-day run-scorer, and has the most "50's" in Pura Cup history. He is behind only

and Jamie Cox for the most appearances for the Tigers. After 17 seasons representing his state side, and helping them to their first

title, Di Venuto retired from the Tasmanian side in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. On 9 July 2012, he retired from English county cricket. He played a key role in helping Durham win back-to-back first-class County Championship titles, including a huge haul of 1,654 runs with two double hundreds when they won the competition for a second time in 2009. But di Venuto has struggled for runs this season, averaging under 30, with Durham bottom of the First Division table.

International career

Michael Di Venuto's form in the 1996/97 Mercantile Mutual Cup inspired the Australian national selectors to include him in the Australian squad for a tour to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1997. He made his

one-day international One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut against

in the first match of the one-day series at

Buffalo Park Buffalo Park is a cricket ground located in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is one of the home grounds for the Warriors cricket team, and the principal home ground for Border. It can hold up to 20,000 spectators. Buffalo Park superse ...

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. South Africa won the toss and chose to field, and Di Venuto opened the batting alongside Mark Taylor. He took an aggressive approach from the outset, scoring 23 runs off 16 balls, before being caught off the bowling of

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis Order of Ikhamanga, OIS (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever t ...

. It was the fourth highest score in an Australian total of 223/9 off 50, but it wasn't enough to stop South Africa winning by 6 wickets. Di Venuto was omitted for the second match, and it didn't help his cause that his replacement, the experienced

Mark Waugh Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debut ...

scored 115 not out, carrying his bat through the innings to guide Australia to a victory by 7 wickets and level the series 1–1. Despite Mark Waugh's heroics, Di Venuto was given another chance in the third match, but was disappointingly run out for 13 in a match South Africa won by 13 runs. In the fourth match, he was again run out, this time for 14, but Australia won by 15 runs to again level the series at 2–2. Faced with a premature end to his international career, Di Venuto needed a big innings in the fifth match of the series, and he provided it. He and opening partner Greg Blewett put on a stand of 93 for the first wicket before Blewett fell. But Di Venuto carried on, scoring 89 off 135 balls, but finally fell a disappointing 11 runs short of a maiden One Day International century. Australia made 258, and won by 8 runs to take a 2–3 lead in the series, and Di Venuto's top score for the Australians earned him the man-of-the-match award, which later proved to be the highlight of his one-day career. Di Venuto was again omitted from the side for the 6th match, but returned in match seven, where he was only able to produce another disappointing score of 11. Overall the tour to South Africa had produced mixed results for Di Venuto. his top-score of 89 had shown he had the talent to compete at international level, but he had also given his wicket away on more than one occasion, and offered inconsistent scores. The tour had resulted in 150 runs at 30.00 in 5 innings for Di Venuto, the fifth best return of the Australians. It was enough to see him again called up for the start of the 1997/98 Carlton & United Series against

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, where he was again asked to open the batting. In game one against South Africa at the

, he could only manage a score of 1. In match three against New Zealand at the

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

, Di Venuto returned his second best career score of 77, and starring alongside Mark Waugh (104 runs) in an excellent opening stand of 156 for the first wicket. In match four the Australians again met South Africa, this time at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, but Di Venuto failed again with only 6 runs. This inconsistency was starting to weigh against Di Venuto, and the press began to doubt his temperament. When he only returned 7 runs against New Zealand in match six at the MCG, Di Venuto was dropped from the side, and he would not return to the Australian side. In four innings during the series Di Venuto had only managed 91 runs at 22.75. In all, Michael Di Venuto represented Australia in nine One Day Internationals, scoring 241 runs at an average of 26.77. He had a high-score of 89 scored against

New Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium, also known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere, is a cricket stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are pl ...

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, and his only other score of note was 77 against

at the

. Although a talented batsman, his aggressive, attacking style of play which was shown by his strike-rate of 85.76, led him to give his wicket away cheaply too often, as he sought to go on the offensive early on in his innings. He holds an Italian passport, allowing him to play county cricket without being classed as an overseas player and making him eligible for the Italian national cricket team. He made his debut for Italy 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. His older brother, Peter played five games for Italy at the 2000 European Cricket Championship and two games in the 2002 edition of the tournament.

Coaching

In 2013, Di Venuto was appointed the

's full-time batting coach by head coach

. In January 2016, due to an illness to incumbent coach

Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...

, Di Venuto was appointed senior coach for the

T20I Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

series against India. In February 2016 Di Venuto joined

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South Londo ...

as head coach, remaining there until 2020; he was head coach in 2018 when the club won its first

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

title since 2002. In July 2021, along with

Jeff Vaughan Jeff Vaughan (born 26 March 1974) is an Australian cricketer. He played in twenty-eight first-class cricket, first-class and twenty-four List A cricket, List A matches for South Australia cricket team, South Australia between 1996 and 2003. In Ju ...

, he was appointed as the

assistant coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ul ...

of the Australian men's cricket team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Venuto, Michael 1973 births Living people Australia One Day International cricketers Tasmania cricketers Sussex cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Durham cricketers Australian cricketers Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent People educated at St Virgil's College Italian cricketers Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Cricketers from Hobart Australian cricket coaches Coaches of the Australia national cricket team Dual international cricketers