![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
It is an ethic that has enabled Australia to clinch the Ashes with two Tests remaining and, in the process, break Bazball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not much of a break in between Test matches,\u201d McDonald said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of a break we get to go home and spend some time with the family and get ready for Christmas, and that\u2019s probably everyone\u2019s priority at this stage, but as is the way, there\u2019s always preparation going on and connection with players in that time in their home, and making sure they get what they need to connect into the next Test match.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo whilst it seems like a break from the eyes of the public, that preparation is critically important in that time at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew McDonald, Australia Head coach. Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
In a series where England\u2019s preparation, or a lack thereof depending on your perspective, has been discussed at length, the Australians have secured the Urn in record time. <\/p>\n
The stars on the field have been rightly lauded, with Mitchell Starc, Travis Head and Alex Carey the leading lights in a summer where Australia has navigated different challenges.<\/p>\n
But as former England captain Michael Vaughan noted in Adelaide, the impact of the backroom staff led by McDonald has been critically important as well, with Australia comprehensively outperforming and out-thinking their rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always give credit to the captains and those out in the middle, but Andrew McDonald, the coach, he has had a huge say in a lot of these tactics,\u201d Vaughan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he is an incredibly thoughtful coach. He does a lot of planning on the tactical side of how to deliver against all of the English players. When you have got the bowlers to deliver the tactic, (it is a winning combination).\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a plethora of examples to choose from, with Australia\u2019s ability to make the right calls at times in all three Tests when England was either in a dominant position or had the upper-hand coming to the fore almost every time.<\/p>\n
But as a case in point, Vaughan identified the dismissal of England\u2019s all-rounder Will Jacks on Day 2 to demonstrate his point.<\/p>\n
With England under immense pressure on the second day, and Jacks trying to settle in at the crease in partnership with Ben Stokes, the Aussies pulled the trigger on a key tactic.<\/p>\n
Boland was taken to task by England in the 2023 Ashes. But with Carey shuffling up to the stumps on occasion, they have been less willing to leave their crease against the precise Victorian.<\/p>\n
Mindful of the pressure Jacks was feeling, Carey moved up to the stumps and within a couple of balls the Aussies had their man once again courtesy of a plan well executed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a brilliant tactic from Australia and Alex Carey. It is brilliant from Australia,\u201d Vaughan said.<\/p>\n
Then he delivered a bombshell. Had Vaughan had his way, McDonald would be coaching England. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany years ago now, when he was at the Renegades and England were looking for a coach, I threw McDonald\u2019s name in,\u201d Vaughan said on Kayo Sports\u2019 coverage of the Ashes. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a few years ago before he got the Aussie job, but I had heard so much about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew McDonald, Australia Head coach. Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
LEARNING THE ROPES<\/p>\n
McDonald came to coaching following a sound career that saw him play four Tests for Australia amid 95 first class games, with his career beginning with Victoria back in 2003.<\/p>\n
He was an amiable character, but his toughness was soon evident. In his first game for Victoria, he returned to the crease after copping a blow to the head.<\/p>\n
On debut for Australia at the SCG in 2009, South African speedster Morne Morkel delivered a ripsnorter that knocked his helmet about 20 metres or so. But he fronted up the next ball without fuss or fanfare.<\/p>\n
With his body fraying, he cut short a stint in South Australia and accepted a coaching role with Leicestershire, which was in the midst of an horrific period in Country cricket.<\/p>\n
They broke a drought in his first year with a couple of wins, and while finishing on the bottom, he was able to lure four decent players from rival counties to the club.<\/p>\n
By the time of his departure for Victoria a season later, Leicestershire was on the brink of earning promotion to the top division for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
He led Victoria to the Sheffield Shield in his first season in charge and also steered the Melbourne Renegades to a BBL title, along with coaching IPL franchise Rajasthan.<\/p>\n
About the time Vaughan offered his name up to the England Cricket Board as an option, McDonald accepted a role as an assistant coach under Justin Langer for Australia in 2019.<\/p>\n
In a profile of McDonald back in 2022, the year he was promoted to the senior role with Australia, former South Aussie Mark Cosgrove said the leading man learned a lot from his time in the UK when he had few resources and had to rely on his wits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very much a lonely road as a head coach of one of those county teams,\u201d Cosgrove told the Cricket Australia website.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having a batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, spin bowling coach, like you do in Australia when you have four coaches around a squad all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou just don\u2019t have that structure where you can say to one of your coaches, \u2018Mate, can you work one-on-one with someone?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The time alone has stood him in good stead to make the most of his resources in charge of Australia, with the planning for this series an indication of how meticulous the Aussies are.<\/p>\n
MAKING THE TOUGH CALLS<\/p>\n
McDonald came to the helm of the Australian cricket team at an acrimonious time, with Langer\u2019s departure leaving him \u201cheartbroken\u201d amid rumours of a rift with the players.<\/p>\n
Langer was a decorated opener with a significant profile. McDonald, while an Australian player, was less known by the public and was subjected to critiques about his suitability to the role.<\/p>\n
The Aussies won an ODI World Cup in India and the 2023 World Test Championships in his second year in charge, a title they conceded this year when beaten in the final by South Africa at Lord\u2019s in June.<\/p>\n
They have been successful on almost every front in his reign but that has not stopped the pot shots. <\/p>\n
A common refrain is that he and selection chair George Bailey are too close to the players and that the Aussies have enabled their elder statesman to continue too long. But that does not gel with the reality of his tenure as a coach.<\/p>\n
When coaching Victoria, he dropped Glenn Maxwell from the Sheffield Shield side. When Aaron Finch was opening for Australia, McDonald instead played him at No.3 for the state.<\/p>\n
The tough calls have continued in a summer where Josh Hazlewood was unavailable and Pat Cummins was in doubt. Leaving out Nathan Lyon in Brisbane is one example. So, too, the call to sideline Usman Khawaja in Adelaide until the illness to Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are just uncomfortable conversations,\u201d he said on SEN prior to the Adelaide Test.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime that you\u2019re leaving someone out who has taken 500 plus Test match wickets and has been an incredibly important part to the team, (it is difficult).<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as I said for the Jamaican Test match and even around the Test match in Brisbane being pink ball, there has to be compelling information to leave someone like that out. And the pink ball is shifting the way that we play it tactically. We had a vision for the way that game was going to play out, and we obviously then picked the personnel around that. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to get into the conversation around that\u2019s the right selection, that\u2019s wrong selection, that\u2019s not the world we live in. Hindsight will tell the public and the commentators and all of that where they think that decision lies, but that\u2019s not the world we live in, and that\u2019s been excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonald won’t confirm either opener | 03:01<\/p>\n
THE TACTICIANS<\/p>\n
Alyssa Healy, the captain of Australia\u2019s wildly successful women\u2019s team and the wife of Mitchell Starc, said McDonald heads a tactical cabal driven by bowlers. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a great all-rounder who knew what he was doing with bat and ball and you\u2019ve also got Dan Vettori, one of the most successful spinners in world cricket,\u201d she told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose two minds coming together and talking about plans and then you throw in the captaincy of Pat Cummins, who\u2019s one of the greatest bowlers that we\u2019ll ever see, and between those three, coming up with plans, ideas and options for the bowling attack should be really easy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Australia has champions with the bat in Steve Smith and Travis Head, along with senior players including Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey who have flourished under McDonald.<\/p>\n
But it is the star-laden bowling attack that has driven Australia\u2019s success, as demonstrated again throughout this series with Starc leading from the front.<\/p>\n
Scott Boland has been precise and miserly, while Cummins and Lyon bowled superbly in Adelaide when returning to the attack before the off-spinner suffered a hamstring injury in the closing stages. <\/p>\n
Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser performed well when called on in Perth and Brisbane, while Cameron Green is faring better with the ball than the bat this summer.<\/p>\n
Starc praised McDonald and the Australian support staff after the success in Adelaide for helping a team declared in some parts as \u201ctoo old\u201d to excel produce their best form during a series where Australia\u2019s depth has come to the fore.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do laugh at some of the comments that get back to us about how old we are, and I think that plays a part in how calm this group is,\u201d Starc told Fox Cricket. <\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly it hasn\u2019t always gone our way, the rub of the green, and I think that\u2019s certainly led by Pat and Andrew and how they\u2019ve had gelled this group together over a number of years. I\u2019m sure experience plays a part with going through your highs and lows … I think that plays a huge part in this.<\/p>\n
\u201cCredit certainly to all the players, but definitely all the staff (as well) led by Andrew. We\u2019ve got a big, big contingent of staff members, and they played a huge role in certainly this series and for a number of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Australian great Brett Lee has no doubt this success has been driven by our bowlers.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Andrew) is a bit more of a relaxed character who\u2019s more conservative in comparison to \u2018Baz\u2019 (Brendon McCullum) and they\u2019re both fine. You need different styles sometimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ve got the Australian bowlers backing up what the coach wants, and that\u2019s the secret.\u201d<\/p>\n
England\u2019s opener Zak Crawley, who quipped leading into the series that Bazball \u201cwinds them up\u201d, conceded in Adelaide that Australia\u2019s planning and ability to deliver had been instrumental in slowing England down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been tough. They are a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough coming here,\u201d Crawley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve made it very hard for us. We\u2019ve been slightly short of our best, but a lot of credit has to go to them. It\u2019s been hard to play the way we have in the past. They set good fields. It\u2019s an attritional style of cricket over here and it\u2019s not as easy to score quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discipline to execute a plan has proven critical, Healy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew is probably the one that has the final say on teams and what not, and he should take a lot more credit, but I think the Aussies\u2019 bowlers are just so good,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what plan they are trying to execute, more often than not they do. That just makes it easy for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘He ran out of time’ McDonald | 11:29<\/p>\n
A VIEW TO THE FUTURE<\/p>\n
With the Urn retained, Australia has Tests in Melbourne and Sydney to come before the focus turns to the T20 World Cup in February and March in India and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
There is a significant break in terms of red ball cricket through to Bangladesh\u2019s tour of northern Australia in August, but the Aussies will play up to 21 Tests in a year after that.<\/p>\n
McDonald will be tasked with handling an evolving team with a view to reclaiming the World Test Championship in 2027 in Lord\u2019s preceding the next Ashes series.<\/p>\n
Greg Shipperd, who promoted McDonald\u2019s skills as an all-rounder to Australian selectors at a time when Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson were the incumbents, would not be surprised with his ability to have testing conversations with his senior champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of getting on with people is about honesty and the relationships you develop,\u201d he told the CA website when McDonald was appointed Australian coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been through cricket where you start a career, you finish a career. He has seen teammates be in that space (and) he\u2019s seen how coaches operate with players in that space. He\u2019ll know how to manage that.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonald backs Khawaja to hold Test spot | 02:34<\/p>\n
This has rung true. <\/p>\n
Leading into Adelaide Test, where Khawaja reaffirmed he was still more than capable with scores of 82 and 40 and No.4, McDonald revealed why he has resisted calls to hasten retirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had one back injury in his whole career, so I think that\u2019s an over-reaction to correlate that to the age of the athlete,\u201d McDonald said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe prepares well. His Shield numbers are incredibly good compared to everyone else. I think he\u2019s the leading the Shield \u2026. averages for the last three to four years. So every time he drops back to that level, he dominates. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow that\u2019s a determiner of who\u2019s the next best or who\u2019s next in line in Australian cricket, and he\u2019s at the top of the pecking order there. So he\u2019s incredibly valued within this group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t speak highly enough of what Usman\u2019s done over the last few years for us. I think everyone\u2019s getting confused around the age and putting an end date. And it feels as though that people want to hear an end date from him or from us, and we\u2019re not that team. We\u2019re not going to put end dates on things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia’s Usman Khawaja.(Photo by William WEST \/ AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n
But tough calls are certain in coming years. Khawaja is 39. Josh Hazlewood has missed the entirety of this series through injury. Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc are 35 or older. Father Time eventually catches every cricketer.<\/p>\n
What gives McDonald confidence is that senior cricketers including Doggett and Neser have flourished when called up to the international level and he believes there is plenty of depth in domestic cricket to drive Australia forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does give you confidence that those selections will fit and the young players and the form line and what they are doing, and in the young batters that are coming through who are competing against those bowlers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose it should be that everyone who is performing in Shield cricket (should have) the view or the lens that they\u2019re not too far away and if they were given an opportunity, that they wouldn\u2019t be out of place. And that\u2019s been a great strength of Australian cricket for as long as I can remember, really.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As England was sunning itself on the Sunshine Coast, Australian coach Andrew McDonald was trying to find his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[106643,3711,108583,86446,114610,129141,1487,129125,428,7614,129137,129132,119681,103478,129145,52869,129123,129142,129131,129144,129120,59365,9982,19028,129140,8032,16994,129148,129124,59367,1721,129126,129135,129129,45401,129143,19886,129119,129147,129128,112351,129121,129134,107073,8108,129139,42394,308,59381,129127,8216,110493,112240,19030,1619,103913,107027,7618,8106,13110,129130,5017,59385,129146,129136,108098,4247,14205,81751,52857,101,2459,129122,81753,9768,129133,41690,56,54,55,5536,6080,129138,129118,569],"class_list":["post-331261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-aaron-finch","tag-africa","tag-alex-carey","tag-alyssa-healy","tag-andrew-mcdonald","tag-andrew-symonds","tag-asia","tag-assistant-coach","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-bowlers","tag-australian-coach","tag-australian-cricket","tag-australian-cricket-team","tag-australian-player","tag-australian-selectors","tag-balance-back","tag-ball-cricket","tag-batting-coach","tag-bowling-attack","tag-bowling-coach","tag-brendan-doggett","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-brett-lee","tag-brilliant-tactic","tag-brisbane","tag-cameron-green","tag-class-games","tag-coaching-role","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket","tag-dan-vettori","tag-decision-lies","tag-departure-leaving","tag-domestic-cricket","tag-earning-promotion","tag-elder-statesman","tag-end-date","tag-end-dates","tag-england-cricket-board","tag-english-players","tag-evolving-team","tag-focus-turns","tag-george-bailey","tag-glenn-maxwell","tag-greg-shipperd","tag-head-coach","tag-india","tag-josh-hazlewood","tag-match-wickets","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-renegades","tag-michael-neser","tag-michael-vaughan","tag-mitchell-starc","tag-morne-morkel","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-oceania","tag-pat-cummins","tag-perth","tag-pot-shots","tag-queensland","tag-scott-boland","tag-senior-cricketers","tag-senior-players","tag-shane-watson","tag-south-africa","tag-south-australia","tag-southern-africa","tag-southern-asia","tag-sports","tag-sri-lanka","tag-star-laden-bowling-attack","tag-steven-smith","tag-sunshine-coast","tag-tough-calls","tag-travis-head","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-victoria","tag-western-australia","tag-world-cricket","tag-young-batters","tag-young-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}