Lehmann gets a grip on batting chaos 'We know where we're going': Darren Lehmann has nearly seven weeks to prepare for the home Ashes series. TIME has been a rare commodity for Darren Lehmann lately. Six months on the road will do that. Lehmann reckons he saw his family for "about five days" since he left for a coaching role at the Indian Premier League in April. The plan was to continue as an assistant on the Australia "A" tour of England, Scotland and Ireland, take a trip with his wife, Andrea, and twin children Amy and Ethan, then head home. "We were supposed to go on a beautiful 2½ week holiday in Europe and up at Yorkshire," he says. She [Andrea] went one way, on holiday, and I went the other. The offer to coach Australia, which arose sensationally in Bristol in June when Mickey Arthur was sacked, put a line through the vacation for Lehmann. And the future suddenly before him - tasked to reclaim the Ashes with 16 days' notice - was never going to be a holiday. Back from England for a fortnight and with nearly seven weeks to prepare for the home Ashes - he has skipped this month's limited-overs tour of India - he finally has time on his side. And what is abundantly clear, now that he has stepped off the Australian team roadshow for a moment, is what he has learnt about the job, the players and himself. "I've got my head round it now," Lehmann says. Now it's about working out all the other things we need to do to get better. It was great to just jump straight into it but the other side of the coin is I can sit back and say 'this is what we need'. Principally, Lehmann is promising stability. Australia used 17 players in the Ashes and, taking in the Test series in India earlier this year, have picked 22 players - two whole teams - in their past nine Tests. They haven't won a single one of them. The frequency of adjustments in the batting order has been staggering. Against England, three openers (Chris Rogers, Shane Watson and David Warner) were used, three batsmen were tried at No.3 (Watson, Ed Cowan, Usman Khawaja), three at No.4 (Watson, Michael Clarke, Phil Hughes) and four at No.6 (Watson, Warner, Hughes, Steve Smith). And that overlooks the unconventional order trotted out when the weather and a declaration turned the fifth Test on its head at The Oval. Lehmann was lobbed with the squad already assembled in England. However, the Australian side is his baby now and he intends to shape it the way he sees fit and stop the chopping and changing. "What we will do is settle the side once the team is announced," he says. And we'll make it perfectly clear where people are batting and we'll be sticking with that group for a while. That happens when you're a coach and you're not winning - you've got to find out about the players and I certainly found out about a few players. To be fair, in the one-dayers we're really settled. That will happen in the Test matches now. I think we're at the stage now that we know where we're going and who we want. Lehmann will spend the next month perusing state cricket and enjoying respite from the attention caused by the cramming of 10 Ashes Tests into six months. Since becoming Australian coach, Lehmann has been able to find a headline like the boundary rope when he was in full swing as a Test batsman. His highly publicised remarks about England - first, accusing Stuart Broad of cheating and then, after the series, describing them as "dour" - have demonstrated how forensically every word an Australian utters in an Ashes year is analysed. He stopped himself from having a shot at the pitches dished up in England when asked if Australia would include more right-hand batsmen to fortify themselves against spinner Graeme Swann this summer. "Look, one thing that probably won't happen is the wickets won't be ... ," Lehmann said, before starting again. What should I say? I always get into trouble. The wickets will be just normal, good cricket wickets. That's what I'll say, maybe. Even that will probably get me in trouble. Lehmann's frankness will probably cause more drama at some point but that is a side issue. Whether he can restore Australia to a force capable of beating England, now that he has a full grasp on the gig and its demands, is the real question. Time will tell.