Voges turns to Hussey and IPL experience for Scorchers' Chennai challenge

The conditions at Chepauk have confounded many in recent times, including Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. More recently, ahead of the red-ball Duleep Trophy, Ishan Kishan, captain of East Zone, and Tilak Varma, captain of South Zone, expected the surface to assist spin as the game wore on, but that wasn't the case. The pitch remained flat across five days, resulting in a dull draw.

Voges has embraced the challenge and sought help from his neighbour and former team-mate, who has also been part of CSK's support staff for a number of years and played for the franchise prior to it.

Some of Scorchers' key personnel, including Mitchell Marsh and Cooper Connolly, who was the breakout overseas star of IPL 2026, also have experience succeeding in Indian conditions.

"Yeah, I think it's going to be new for everyone, and that's the exciting part," Voges said. "That's the great challenge for all of us. And certainly, for us from a Scorchers perspective, we have a number of players who will be coming who have experience in the conditions over here. We've got a number of hopefully IPL stars in Mitchell Marsh and Cooper Connolly that will certainly hopefully be part of our squad that comes over. Ashton Turner, Jhye Richardson are another couple of guys who have played in the conditions as well."

Voges himself brings IPL experience - both as a player and coach. After playing for Rajasthan Royals in 2010, he served as an assistant to head coach Justin Langer at Lucknow Super Giants more recently. Voges hopes to tap into those experiences when he coaches Scorchers in Chennai.

If the Chepauk pitch does favour turn, Voges is confident about the options at his disposal. Apart from Ashton Agar and Connolly's left-arm fingerspin, Scorchers can call upon their new recruit Calvin Harrison.

Born in South Africa but raised in New Zealand and Somerset, Harrison is a legspin-bowling allrounder who was Trent Rockets' highest wicket-taker in their run to the men's final. At Rockets, Harrison also worked with Voges, who was an assistant to head coach Peter Moores.

"I hope [it spins]," Voges said with a laugh. "We've got Ashton Agar, Cooper Connolly, we've just signed Calvin Harrison from the UK, who I've worked a little bit with in The Hundred, who's a tall wristspinner. So yeah, we are certainly hoping and expecting that there'll be conditions that favour spin, and that's what we'll be preparing for."

For the first time in years, Voges will not be part of the Western Australia dressing room as a player or coach when WA begin their domestic season on Friday at the WACA. After enjoying remarkable success as coach in Australian domestic cricket, Voges stepped down as WA coach at the end of the 2025-26 season to pursue opportunities in franchise leagues around the world.

"Yeah, it's going to be different," Voges said. "Western Australia play their first game tomorrow in Perth, and it'll be the first time for over 20 years that I won't be a part of it. So it's a bit of a different feeling. It's a decision that I made to try and continue to broaden my experiences around the world with the MLC (Seattle Orcas) and Hundred (Trent Rockets) and Big Bash.

"For me, it's just continuing to learn as much as I can about the game in different places, about different cultures, different environments, and hopefully continue to create those and build those experiences into my own coaching. And hopefully be a better coach for it."