Andrew McDonald is in the box seat to become full-time coach of the Australian men’s side, but the question remains whether or not he wants the job.
Talks between McDonald and Cricket Australia were on hold throughout a tightly scheduled Test series in Pakistan, but McDonald confirmed discussions have begun over the specific conditions of the head coach role he has filled on an interim basis since the controversial departure of Justin Langer in February.
“I have spoken to people at Cricket Australia now, obviously the contested Test series didn’t allow that [before] but with a few more gaps amongst this one day series I have had the opportunity to speak to Cricket Australia,” McDonald said.
“Whether that becomes a follow-up conversation we will wait and see, it will be pretty much like the other people that have no doubt spoken to Cricket Australia as well.
“There was no great detail or clarity on what the role would look like, that’s probably something that will be built in the next few steps, however many steps there are to the process.
“Do I want the job? It depends on what it looks like, how Cricket Australia see the job unfolding and I will probably get more detail and clarity moving forward.”
McDonald was reluctant to reveal how he would like the role to be structured, but the fact he is open to further conversations is the strongest indication yet that he is interested in the job.
“It would just be an opinion, I don’t really want to openly share what I think the job would look like, that might put people in difficult situations through the process.
“Once the process is done I am happy to talk about what I think the job should look like if I do have the job or don’t have the job, that’s something for later on down the track.”
McDonald’s first tour as head coach after Langer’s tenure has been largely successful, with Australia’s 1-0 Test series win outweighing the 2-1 loss to Pakistan in the ODI series, particularly with Australia missing several first-choice players through absence, injury and Covid-19 cases.
After the relationship between Langer, Cricket Australia and senior players broke down in what became a messy public debacle, there has been an air of calm and stability on the Pakistan tour, despite the restrictions of a tight security bubble.
Both Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch have been glowing in their public comments on McDonald’s handling of the head coach role.
Finch has a particularly close relationship with his former Victoria teammate who was a mentor during the early days of his career; it means McDonald is in a better position than most to assess the technical difficulties that have recently plagued the Australian captain.
“He is disappointed with his current form, obviously that plays out on the big stage, currently he is not moving the way he wants to move in terms of his mechanics,” McDonald said.
“That’s something we need to rectify and he’s working on it at training, we’ve been down this path before, sometimes he can get his legs crossed over a little bit and get too much weight on that left leg, it’s not an uncommon thing. Hopefully we can work through it, albeit the time frames over here between games haven’t created the time you would like to work on that.
“It’s something he has worked through before and we are confident he can work through it again.”
Finch made successive ducks in the second and third ODIs at Gaddafi Stadium and had been out in single figures eight times in his past 11 international innings.
But McDonald expressed complete confidence that Finch will exit his form slump and retain the captaincy ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
“His form can ebb and flow like most player’s can, his ability to work through these patches has been significant in his career, we had the same conversation about David Warner leading into the T20 World Cup last time.
“All these conversations are going to happen, do we think he is still good enough to play at this level? One hundred per cent yes.
“We are building a team around him as a captain, so it is a pretty significant pillar to be discussing not being at the T20 World Cup.”
Meanwhile, Josh Inglis has completed his isolation period after testing positive to Covid-19 last week, and will be available for the sole T20 International that wraps up the tour. Matt Renshaw, who flew in as cover for Australia’s depleted squad, will also be available after isolating for three days on arrival.
Ashton Agar, however, returned a positive Covid test result on Monday afternoon after earlier testing negative, and his availability for the T20I remains uncertain.
