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<\/p>\n
The Australian coach is also confident Northern Territorian Jake Weatherald, who will open against Bangladesh, has what it takes to succeed as a Test opener in the long-term after a patchy debut series against England last summer.<\/p>\n
But he said the spotlight on the Australian top order came at a time when batting has become more difficult and believes previous benchmarks that defined excellence are no longer as relevant given changes to the modern game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the benchmarking of players averaging over 50 in Test cricket, the way that it used to be played, and this isn\u2019t an excuse, but the game is played at a higher tempo across the board,\u201d McDonald said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian teams in the past have played at a high tempo. Even (with) people talking about \u2018Bazball\u2019 I can remember a game at Adelaide Oval … where Australia scored 450 or something on the first day, so all those things have been done, but there is a faster pace to Test cricket these days. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo how we\u2019re judging our players and how teams are operating is always interesting, so the benchmarking from the past, I think, is … not irrelevant, but we\u2019re probably moved past that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Andrew McDonald said Australia will continue to pick the best Test team available despite criticism regarding a lack of youth being injected into the side ahead of the series against Bangladesh. (Photo by Jason McCawley\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
It is in that backdrop that McDonald, who pointed to a series of factors for the dip in scoring, has backed in Green and Labuschagne despite the challenges both players have experienced at home in particular in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
This week will mark three years since the Queenslander last scored a Test century, that coming at Manchester in the Ashes, but McDonald said that the former ICC Test Batsman of the Year remained among our best batters. <\/p>\n
But he needs to deliver. When McDonald was asked by Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley what Australia needed from Labuschagne, whose average has dipped to 44.7, the initial response was succinct; \u201cRuns\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the obvious answer,\u201d McDonald said on SEN in Melbourne. <\/p>\n
\u201cLast summer, (his) first Test match on the back of the Shield work that he did was very promising. He probably had a little bit of a lull through the middle of that series and then ended in Sydney, where you\u2019d expect him to be, at as a high-level batter. It\u2019s all still there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Australian coach Andrew McDonald is confident Marnus Labuschagne and Jake Weatherald will flourish over what is a challenging 12 months for the nation\u2019s Test team. Photo by Phil Hillyard.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Following the Bangladesh series, Australia returns to South Africa for the first time since the \u201csandpaper-gate\u201d disaster in 2018. <\/p>\n
The Aussies then host New Zealand, which ended the tenures of both Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum with their recent series triumph in England, before travelling to India for a five Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.<\/p>\n
At its completion Australia, which has a dominant lead in the World Test Championship, will host England in the 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG prior to an Ashes tour beginning in June, which follows the WTC final.<\/p>\n
Labuschagne looms as a critical figure in the top order if he is able to regain the form that made him one of the world\u2019s best batters, with the Queenslander showing semblances of that touch against England last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s working incredibly hard on his game, and I know that\u2019s an easy thing to say that someone\u2019s working hard, and people want to see results, and Marnus wants to see those results, we want to see those results, (but) he\u2019s done a deep dive into his batting,\u201d McDonald said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s challenged himself. He\u2019s had some space and time to work on it and I think sometimes when you\u2019re playing the whole time, and he\u2019s admitted this as well, that when he was dropped from the West Indies Series, it gave him an opportunity to work on his game. It\u2019s just about now going out there and executing, and also staying true to what you\u2019ve done in that preparation phase. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the criticism sometimes, and I hope Marnus doesn\u2019t mind me saying this because we have these conversations, is in that search for the answer. Sometimes he\u2019s shifting away from what makes him really good, that sort of proactive batting. He does focus on his technique a lot, but settling that down, trusting that over a period of time, and just going out there and doing it (is the key).\u201d<\/p>\n
Cummins & Lyon “fit & ready to go!” | 21:18<\/p>\n
As an aside, McDonald did not rule out the prospect that Stokes might yet feature in next year\u2019s Ashes despite his recent retirement. The former English captain has been in good form for Durham since retiring from international cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I think the fairytale would be that he comes back out of retirement and takes on one more Ashes and builds a lot of hype on the way in,\u201d McDonald told SEN\u2019s Whateley program on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if you\u2019re looking at promoting that series, that\u2019s probably the angle that you would want that he come out of retirement. He still got to me, he\u2019s still got a lot of good cricket left in him. So yeah, it\u2019ll be a fascinating watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that whoever the new head coach that comes in potentially has a conversation with him. So we don\u2019t know why Ben left. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s been anything on the record around the definitive reason as to why. But he may have just called it a day on Test cricket, and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there might be a full stop there. There might be an opportunity for that new head coach to potentially twist his arm and bring him back in. But if it ends now, he\u2019s had a wonderful career in terms of what he\u2019s brought to the game, his impact in certain innings and moments in time, yeah, will age pretty well for him to look back on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew McDonald pictured speaking with Victorian spinner Todd Murphy at the MCG last summer. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Aussies have picked a full-strength squad of 13 for the Bangladesh series being held in Darwin and Mackay next month.<\/p>\n
But McDonald, who said all-rounders Green and Beau Webster can feature in the same Test team, said a broader group of 19 was effectively in consideration for challenges ahead with simulation games to be held in Brisbane next month. <\/p>\n
An Australian XI featuring prospective contenders will play Bangladesh prior to the two Test series, while an Australian development squad is heading to India for a fortnight this weekend.<\/p>\n
While there has been some criticism of the decision not to inject youth into the Test team given Australia will start a strong favourite against Bangladesh, McDonald said that spots needed to be earned under this Test match committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe debate\u2019s always going to be about what opportunities that you do expose for people and we\u2019ve always been on the record around every Test match, we pick the best team, and we have had a long lay-off,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to reward it. Is it an age profile that people will challenge and question? There\u2019s no doubt about that. But these players are still at their best, we believe, and hence why they\u2019re being selected. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo (it would) be very difficult to go to someone and say, \u2018Yeah, you\u2019ve been in our best Test squad for … X amount of time and you\u2019re performing at a high level\u2019, which this team has, and say, \u2018Okay, by the way, we\u2019re just going to (float) a couple of youngsters in this series.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really sit well with us as a selection panel, and we want to pick that best test 11 each time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jake Weatherald, pictured at Nightcliff Jetty earlier this year, grew up in Darwin and will open for Australia against Bangladesh in the first Test in a fortnight\u2019s time. Picture: Courtney McCabeSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Australia will play Bangladesh in Darwin between August 13-17 and in Mackay between August 22-26 with the matches broadcast on Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n
Lyon & Webster named in Australia squad | 06:02<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian coach Andrew McDonald is certain batting has never been harder but is adamant seasoned performers Marnus Labuschagne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-830559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}