WI vs AUS | Definitely need some things to consider at the selection table, admits Andrew McDonald

Following two straight losses, Australian assistant coach Andrew McDonald has insisted that there would be some changes considered from the bowling front for the third T20I. While stating that there were positives from the first T20I, he added that the team has to perform better with the ball.

Barring Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh, the Australian bowlers have been poor, with just one wicket in between them in the ongoing series against West Indies. Australia’s premier wicket-takers, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa have gone wicketless in the first two games, with the former conceding 89 runs in eight overs, at an economy rate of 11.12. 

While not just that, his length against Andre Russell in the first encounter and later to Dwayne Bravo in the second was right in the hitting zone. Australia’s assistant coach Andrew McDonald stated that there clearly needs to be some changes to consider at the selection table, going into the third T20I against the West Indies. Riley Meredith, Jason Behrendorff and Andrew Tye are some of the options that they have on the bench. 

“There’s definitely some things to consider at the selection table. Whether you want to expose a couple of fast bowlers to see what that looks like in among Starc and Hazelwood,” assistant coach Andrew McDonald told Cricket Australia.

“You’d like to think some guys will get some opportunities at different times, and not be out of the team due to form. There’s no doubt there’s some consideration. We’re playing a different balance of team … so that’s been a shift.”

McDonald also stressed Australia’s plans against the dangerous Russell, adding that the plan has been clear but however, the execution has been far off. 

“The wider option to take him away from that short side (of the ground) is clearly there,” he said.

“Do we need some more ball speed to go with Mitch and Josh to give us some more impact through the middle to potentially shrink the game in terms of runs?”

“Our plans have been there, and they will work. If you miss to this group of batters you’re going to get punished and that’s what we’ve seen,” he added.

The former Australian all-rounder McDonald also revealed that there are a lot of positives within the group after the first game, in terms of Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh’s bating but at the same time, showed his disappointment that they could not finish the game off. 

“There were a lot of positives within that (first game). We saw Wade (who scored 33 off 14) functioning well at the top, we’ve seen Mitch Marsh (consecutive half-centuries) batting at three in a slightly different role than what he’s used to.”

“While it was disappointing we weren’t able to get that chase done, we learnt a lot from that. And game two, we were just out played … they just outdid us.”

Follow us on Facebook here

Stay connected with us on Twitter here

Like and share our Instagram page here

Leave a Comment