Australian coach Andrew McDonald has resisted calls for regeneration of the side, but admits Marnus Labuschagne needs big runs after another lean Test.
McDonald faced media after the shocking nine-wicket loss to Bangladesh, as the focus once again turns to the Aussie squad’s ageing status ahead of looming Test series against South Africa, New Zealand, India and England.
Marnus Labuschagne. Getty Images
Jake Weatherald and Labuschagne are two players under heavy scrutiny after failing to make a big score in both innings.
Ricky Ponting has been one former player calling for change, with Victorian young guns Ollie Peake and Campbell Kellaway part of his case.
A cautious McDonald believes there’s still “a fair bit of cricket left” in this group.
“It’s always going to be a conversation, the age profile of the team, where we’re at, how we’re travelling,” he said.
“A loss doesn’t help that, there’s no doubt about that. These players have got a fair bit of cricket left in them … it’s really about how we navigate through it.
“There’s always going to be calls for change on the back of a loss, there’s always going to be emotion from the outside and even internally.
“Our guys are in the change room and they’re feeling it, you feel a Test loss, it means a lot to them. It’s how you move forward. Our next decision is going to be the most important. What we do, how we get them prepped.
“The easy option is to call for change, a lot of people call for change even when we’re winning, they’re entitled to do that as well on the back of a performance like that. That’s part of our lot.”
As for Labuschagne, the 32-year-old scored 1 and 31 in the first Test with his gap between centuries now at three years.
McDonald admitted the bottom line is “we want runs” but managed to stay positive about his No.3.
“I think it was 31 in the second innings, and until the point he got out, you’d look out there and say, ‘Geez he’s looked good, he’s moving well, clipping off his pads, getting back through the ball down the ground’,” the coach said.
“It’s easy for me to try and defend that but ultimately, it’s 31. It’s not a big score. He’s lacked runs, he feels that, we feel that. We’re working hard as a coaching group, and it’s one thing to talk about the player, but we’ve got to get the best out of Marn as well and we’re working through that.
“He’s had a bit of a lull, he knows that. He’s gone to work, I think we saw some change in the way that he played, so that’s good. Some of that work he had done, it feels like it stuck under pressure … but it is 31. He’s disappointed at that, it’s a missed opportunity, and he needs some big runs.”
Andrew McDonald. Getty Images
McDonald also flagged the possibility that the squad for Mackay could be extended from the 13 available in Darwin.
That could bring Matt Renshaw into the equation, with Weatherald struggling at the top of the batting order.
“If you go back to the original squad that was picked, it was quite skinny in terms of 13,” McDonald said.
“We usually travel with a few more than that, so I think Bails [chief selector George Bailey] left it very open to we could add depending on what we saw going through. It’s a very light squad we had, we’ll make those decisions.”