( CNN ) -- The head coach of the Australian cricket team has been replaced ahead of the Ashes , following a string of poor performances by the sport 's traditional powerhouse . Cricket Australia confirmed on Monday that Mickey Arthur had been replaced as coach by Darren Lehmann , the current Queensland coach who was touring England as coach of the Australia A squad . On a turbulent day for Australian cricket , captain Michael Clarke also stood down as a team selector . The Ashes , the regular series of five Test matches between Australia and England that is one of the most celebrated rivalries in world sport , is scheduled to begin on July 10 in Nottingham . England enters the series as the bookmakers ' favorite and the current holder of the Ashes , having regained them in 2009 and defended them successfully in 2011 . A South African former domestic cricketer , Arthur had coached Australia since November 2011 , following a five-year stint in charge of the South Africa national side . `` Naturally I 'm very disappointed with how this has all ended , '' said Arthur , who was the first foreigner to coach Australia and had been contracted to lead the team until the end of the 2015 World Cup . `` I certainly wanted to see the job through but I accept that the team has n't been completely galvanized under my leadership and our performances have been inconsistent . `` I 'm certainly a believer in good culture and traditions much like all Australians and feel we were starting to get a shift in the right direction . We certainly need the team to be absolutely unified if we 're any chance of beating the English . '' Lehmann represented Australia in 27 Test matches between 1998 and 2004 , scoring 1798 runs . `` Darren Lehmann has been appointed as the new Australia head coach , '' said Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland . `` He has had outstanding success in a short time with Queensland Cricket winning the Bupa Sheffield Shield , Ryobi One-Day Cup and KFC T20 Big Bash League all within the last two years . `` Lehmann will be contracted until June 2015 -- post the 2015 Cricket World Cup . '' Arthur 's dismissal comes amid troubled times for Australian cricket , on and off the pitch . This month the one-day side was knocked out in the group stages of the ICC Champions Trophy , failing to win a match in a tournament it had won the previous two times it had been held . Earlier , the side had been beaten 4-0 in Tests during its tour of India . Once the dominant force in international cricket , Australia also recently lost the series against South Africa , going down 1-0 in Tests in November , and against England , losing 4-0 in a series of one-day internationals in 2012 . Poor discipline and rumors of disunity have plagued the squad , with four players -- including then vice-captain Shane Watson -- controversially ruled ineligible to play during the recent Indian tour for failing to complete a `` homework '' assignment set by Arthur on how to improve performances . Earlier this month , batsman David Warner was disciplined for throwing a punch at England player Joe Root in the early hours of the morning in a Birmingham bar , just weeks after the Australian had found himself in hot water for an expletive filled Twitter rant at journalists . He pleaded guilty to bringing the game into disrepute over both incidents .
Mickey Arthur is replaced as Australia cricket coach by Darren Lehmann . Darren Lehmann dismissed after a string of poor performances . CNN played 27 Test matches for Birmingham five-year . Captain Mickey Arthur has stood down as a team selector .