Buchanan had a brief first-class career with Queensland in 1978–79 in which he played in 7 matches and hit 160 runs. He also played league cricket in England including a spell at Hyde Cricket Club in Cheshire. Buchanan began his coaching career in England- he was player/coach/professional for Oldham in Central Lancashire league as well as Cambridgeshire in Minor Counties 1978 and 1979. Oldham won the League and Cup double in 1979 which was first time in some 40 odd years. Prior to the senior coaching position, he had five successful years as the Queensland Bulls coach in which they won two Sheffield Shield titles, the victory in 1994–95 was the first in the state's history, and two Mercantile Mutual Cup wins. He also coached Middlesex in 1998.
Australian coach
Buchanan served as the coach of the Australian cricket team. Appointed in October 1999 to replace Geoff Marsh he was considered an unlikely candidate given that he had not played at the Test level as had his predecessors, Marsh and Bob Simpson. His initial results were very impressive however as he helped steer the team to unprecedented success. At one stage his record was 15 wins from 15 games played. However, his contributions have often been questioned by legends of the game including Ian Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar and even Shane Warne who played under him. The most common criticism has been that he inherited a very strong team and his presence just happened to coincide with their victories. Warne has consistently held that Buchanan tended to reinvent everything and complicate all aspects of the game. Buchanan, along with former captain Ricky Ponting, led the side to numerous successes, including a world-record 16 consecutive Test match victories and 23 ODI victories in world cup tournaments, Buchanan only not involved in the first one, a 2001 and 2002–03 Ashes domination winning both series 4–1, the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa, the 2004 tour of India, in which Australia hadn't won a series there in thirty-six years, and more recently, following their shock Ashes defeat, a whitewash of the Super Series that saw the Aussies up against a World XI. In late 2006 he helped the team to their first ever ICC Champions Trophy victory, after four previously failed attempts and followed this with a 5–0 whitewash in the 2006–07 Ashes Series, the first since the 1920–21 Series. In 2007 his team won their third consecutive world cup. His unorthodox methods have raised a few eyebrows and Shane Warne was dismissive about his role in the team. However, former captain Ponting has credited him as being one of the important reasons why Australia completed their World Cup hat trick of wins.
Post-retirement
Following his retirement as Australia's cricket coach, Buchanan has declined an indirect approach to coach the Indian cricket team on the grounds that he was not yet ready for another international assignment. However Buchanan has not ruled out a return to coaching an international cricket team in the future. In mid-2006, Buchanan confirmed that at the conclusion of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, he would step down, possibly to coach the Southern Redbacks. However, in October 2007, he accepted a position as Ambassador for Cricket Coaches in Australia, where he hopes to use his experience to help the development of Australian coaches in the future. Buchanan released a book named, "If Better Is Possible". His book shows how business managers at all levels can lead their teams to greatness. In 2009 Buchanan was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
Kolkata Knight Riders
During the second season of the IPL, Buchanan's strategies for KKR raised a lot of controversies which were further elevated because of the team's poor performance. Sunil Gavaskar, a former Indian player also accused Buchanan and his coaching staff of racial discrimination against players from India. He was sacked in June 2009 by the team owners for his poor performance.
Buchanan was appointed to the role of Director of Cricket for New Zealand Cricket in May 2011. Buchanan was appointed to oversee the establishment of New Zealand Cricket's new high performance programme. He was heavily criticised as he gave Black Cap player Ross Taylor the captaincy over the more likely candidate Brendon McCullum. However, two years later Taylor was sacked and McCullum appointed as captain. In July 2013 he resigned from his role as Director of cricket.
