Key Takeaways
- Australia coach McDonald rules out bulk changes ahead of Adelaide Test
- The Australian team is confident in their abilities, despite the loss to India in Perth
- Marnus Labuschagne’s form is a concern, but the team is confident he can turn it around
Adelaide: Andrew McDonald, Australia coach and selector, has backed Australia’s present Test group to perform well here.
Australia’s loss to India in Perth was a setback, but coach McDonald ruled out big changes ahead of the second ICC World Test Championship contest in Adelaide. Adelaide will be a crucial test for the team.
“The people in that changeroom are the same people that will be in Adelaide,” McDonald said.
“It is always a consideration, wherever you go in the world in terms of the personnel you pick for conditions,” he said.
Apart from the XI featured in Perth, Australia’s squad comprises of wicket-keeper and back-up batter Josh Inglis and pacer Scott Boland who will be considered for the second Test, an ICC report said.
While McDonald admitted the form of No.3 batter Marnus Labuschagne was of some concern, the Australian coach is confident the right-hander can turn it around quickly.
“That’s an ongoing discussion and that ebbs and flows in players’ careers, so at the moment he’s in one of those patches and no doubt he’ll be getting critiqued externally,” McDonald said.
“But internally we’re really confident that, at his best, he’s the player that we need,” he said.
McDonald further ruled out any possibility that Australia’s Test stars could return to domestic cricket ahead of their second Test outing against India which commences at Adelaide Oval on December 6.
“That hasn’t crossed our minds. We feel that with the long summer ahead, the prep we’ve got in place – albeit we’ve extended that by a day in Adelaide,” McDonald instead backed the ongoing arrangement.
“We’ll be well prepared as we were leading into the first Test,” he said.
Mitch Marsh, the supporting act of Australia’s pace attack as the fourth seamer, sent down 17 overs in the Perth Test, securing 2/12 in the first innings but being expensive in the second.
The seamer has had fitness concerns over the year, having picked up a hamstring injury during this year’s IPL and had bowled only four overs during the previous eight months before the Test.
“We’ll wait and see,” was McDonald’s response on Marsh’s fitness going ahead in the series, though he was satisfied with the all-rounder’s bowling performance,
“We knew that Mitch was slightly underdone coming in, but I thought the performance in the first innings was satisfactory,” he said.
Despite the rattling loss to India, a side which was coming off a record home whitewash against New Zealand, Australia’s were in good spirits.
“I think morale is pretty good. I think this team is really good at the highs and lows, it’s quite a level team so we’ll be somewhere in the middle of that,” McDonald said.
“There will be conversations around how we improve the appetite to get better, but I don’t think the morale’s an issue at this stage,” he added.
The second Test of the series begins on December 6.
