Andrew McDonald sits down with Gerard Whateley to answer ALL of the hard hitting questions – SEN

Cricket Australia coach Andrew McDonald joins Gerard Whateley to explain why Jake Fraser-McGurk was initially left out of the T20 World Cup squad and discuss the reasons for the selections of other players. They also discuss how Alex Carey is still dealing with the stumping of Bairstow backlash and how the game of Cricket can be potentially grown in America.

righto conversation we’ve been waiting for for a couple of weeks although that Heat’s just come out of it a fraction now Jake Fraser mcer is going to the West Indies Andrew McDonald is the coach of the Australian cricket team before he Jets off tomorrow for this world cup campaign Andrew welcome to the studio thanks for having you st you’ve named The Traveling reserves we have yes who are they uh Jake fasen mcer much to your Delight I know that you’ve been campaigning for a period of time around that one and Matthew short um so we think we’ve got some able backups should anything move um in the way that we want to play so we think we got a nice balance there why do you take two batters in the reserve ranks yeah I think I think they’re slightly different um in in what they offer obviously Jake we think he an out andout opener um and the way that we sort of um growing Matthew short into into the team has been more through that middle order um but also that spin ability as well so we got sort of we feel like he’s a spinning allrounder um much like Glenn Maxwell if anything think should move there and then obviously Jake fras mcer and out and out top order player but both exciting and um yeah I think they had a lot do you is there an underlying injury concern around Dave Warner’s hand no no not at this stage so we believe he’s fully fit everything he says he’s fully fit um we know that he missed the last game for Delhi um clearly that was a selection mechanism there with the way that they wanted to play late in the tournament I think he played the second last round he returned there so yeah we’ve got no fears that he won’t be fit and fully available how do we get fasen mcer to the score do you have to have somebody ruled out for the whole tournament oh it’ll be an injury um so those guys that sit out outside of the 15 the only way they can come into um onto the selection table is if there were to be an injury and then as I said we’ve got two options there depending on what we lose or um what may unfold in terms of injuries um and we’ve also got some other players in Spencer Johnson Xavier Bartlett um that are playing in the UK as well so if we were to lose a bowler those guys are up and running in the UK and we we valued them playing games over there and they can come in um it’s only a short flight into the West Indies from England so we’ve got a lot of people that are available as backups should I think move should we have the phas of mcer debate let’s I think you’ve already had it probably have you left the hottest batter in the world out of the World Cup in your opinion yes um oh there’s no doubt what he did in uh the IPL he lit it up as’s an extraordinary talent and he’s going to give fans much delight across the journey um in discussing the 15 U man squad that we put out we you know we needed to cover all bases in the way that we wanted to play and um there was a lot of building uh that went into that over a period of time and I think people would have seen that fold in the series against New Zealand the series against the West Indies and and even as far back as as South Africa so these things are are put in play uh well in advance and there’s no doubt that uh he did turn our heads and you he was a huge discussion when it come to the final 15 so he was running hot and there’s no doubt um he’ll run hot into the future so the debate is that you wanted him in um we couldn’t find a place and and what we willing to give up to get him into the 15 and we would have had to give up something in terms of the way that we wanted to play and potentially what conditions presented uh in the West Indies so we always say there’s no right or wrong in this but that’s where we landed so that the analytics of what he’s done in this IPL they are pretty mind-blowing aren’t they yeah they’re pretty significant striking over 200 uh for a period of time you know he’s boundary percentage is high um the style of player that he’s playing is you know he’s as I said made us turn our heads and unfortunately couldn’t squeeze him into that final 15 so long term you’re actually one of his greatest admirers aren’t you has you signed him as a teenager yeah we did at the Renegades so we’ve known about Jake for for a long period of time Andrew Lynch who was our old list manager at Victoria and the Renegades uh he put him on the table I think when he’s about 14 or 15 years of age so we’ve known that he’s a highend talent and and what we’ve seen um didn’t really shock anyone but probably the level um in which he performed consistently was a was a huge achievement for himself what do do you think his trajectory will be from here having seemingly made this big step oh we played him in the in the summer just gone as well so in in the one day form at so yeah he’s on the radar um we know that we we’re going to have some positions that transition in the next sort of you know well short-term future really after this world cup there could be potentially some some turnover which there inevitably always is um so he’s definitely front and center in the conversations in that top order and um yeah we’ got a quite Dynamic top order at the moment with Travis head and his ability in the IPL the way he’s played as well is probably equal to what Jake’s done and then we’ve got Mitch Marsh and obviously David Warner complimenting those top three so um all those top two batters um to make it a really solid top three do you suspect our future white ball pairing his head and Fraser mcer I I think that would be a good a good indication yeah I I think that that would be where we would head and that’s what we did sort of last summer in exposing Jake at the top of the order so look at maybe somewhere in that top three um and we’re not dismissing the fact that he may be able to potentially play a role in the middle order as well so he’s only early on in his career but um yeah I’d say likely he’d be up the top of the order and Matthew short would be buying for that as well and I think in the Jake fras and mcgurt conversation we we’re probably dismissing what Matthew Short’s been able to do domestically as well um so we feel as though we’ve got a couple of young talented players that are are ready to go when we need them is it possible that Jake can become the the new Dave Warner the the three format player what what have you seen as to whether he’s it’s possible to refine his red ball game to be that future aggressor at the top of the order yeah I don’t think it’s necessarily about find but it’s it’s finding the place that best suits him and I think we’re probably dismissing Davey’s ability at First Class level before he actually come in I think he had that real hot streak where he’s averaging 50 plus In First Class Cricket before he come in Jake hasn’t done that yet um so I’d say that one of David’s great strengths probably overlooked a little bit as his defensive play um the ability to keep out the good balls um for long periods of time and then obviously to thrive when um the scoring options present so yeah I think that they can progress into into the longer formats more exposure through that I know that South Australia played him at the top of the order um for a couple of games last year didn’t quite work out um so whether he fits into that middle order um in a sort of Travis head U Mitch Marsh type of role um as a sort of counter-attacking player through the middle order or whether he’s able to evolve into the discussion around um playing in the top order like David has but he’s on a journey um he’s starting it out yes he’s exciting um but yeah there’s some other players in those conversations as well when it comes to test match cricket yep all right I’ll leave this here but you you’ve sort of denied us all the excitement of the hot young thing I know that’s not part of selection but um it would have been hellishly exciting if we’d been watching the IPL knowing that this was about to come into an Australian shirt yeah and we think we’ve got exciting players in and around that as well as I said like head Warner Marsh and then what Cameron Green’s been able to do as well U uh in that middle order playing a different role um you know his attacking qualities have been there he opened the batting for Australia against India a couple of years ago and I think it was a similar conversation coming to that World Cup whether we’d left Cameron you know Cameron green to the side at the expense of the team and he ended up coming in through an injury I think it was to Josh englas who cut his hand playing golf um so yeah we feel as though we got some exciting players that will be able to take us deep into the World Cup but unfortunately fras is not there um but you’ve campaigned very hard around it so well done to you Jared um will Mitch Marsh be fit for the start of the tournament he would be fit for the start of the tournament yes uh will he be bowling that that’s the big question so it’s been a little bit slower than we would have liked um we felt like it was just going to be a straight up sort of three to four we Hamp string it’s it probably hasn’t progressed that way so he’s he’s a little bit behind where we’d like him with the ball but he’ll take part in the practice games that we’ve got in Trinidad against Namibia and the West Indies as a batter heill Captain clearly those those two teams there but we we’ll probably slow play the bowling a little bit and you’ll see that unfold as the tournament progresses so um yeah we got to take care of the captain he’s an important Cog um yeah so we probably not willing to risk the bowling as early as um what we thought it might have been how much bowling would he do in this setup yeah it depends on the the structure of team um you know if you play sort of a traditional side with the the seven batters three Quicks and and and one spinner the bowling probably diminishes a little bit there with stus and Maxwell being able to pick up a little bit of the load but if we were to shift the the balance of the side to the eight batters um you know and bring in another all rounder for a quick potentially depending on what the surfaces offer then his bowling would be uh more important but yeah I think if we structured up the way that we have in the last few T20 games yeah his bowling wouldn’t be of high demand um but if we were to to flip that into an eight batter setup then yeah his bowling would be important important so when he comes back to on onto the table um with the ball then we’ve got some options in terms of whether we want to play an extra batter and it’s probably been the discussion point in the IPL with the um with the impact player or the substitute or whatever they call that that player where teams have been able to bat a little bit deeper and the scores have gone up so will that become real in the IP uh in the in the World Cup um the trend that’s been set in the IPL we’ll wait and see well what’s your what’s your hunch so it feels like this IPL has escalated things on where it’s been previously but there’s been there was a a variable put into the mix with the substitute player do have we taken a step with T20 cricket or do you think what we’ll see internationally is what you’re used to I I think in World Cups when the pressure goes up things tend to level out we we had the discussion I think leading into 2009 when England were making 400 450 um and we felt like that World Cup potentially would head down that path but it wasn’t to be the case the score was sort of leveled back to normality or what we’ call normality where was sort of 300 around that that total um you have I mean you have to take an interest in the fact that it’s happening um is it because of the impact player being able to play an extra batter deeper yeah I think that’s real I think the surfaces also lent itself to that type of cricket um and we have seen in the Caribbean if you look at the the Caribbean Premier League the scores are traditionally a lot lower on those surfaces and and the West Indies have got such Dynamic batters and all those players play in that league but the scores are a lot lower than other leagues around the world so we have seen times scores in franchise Cricket escalate um be well well above 200 um but yeah I feel like there’ll be a little bit of a combination depending on the surface at the time the opponent um but yeah hopefully we do see some of those big scores because it’s yeah it’s great to watch Australia has a great record in World Cup so it’s tried to put that into the debate around what’s been happening are you of the view long term that crash calls them heavy duty players so experienced players win World Cups yeah and I think was probably reflected in in our selections um and and the path that we’ve gone down we’ve got some uh tried and tested players at the World Cup level um in saying that we’ve been really good at World Cups probably T20 World Cups has been our killes Hills um you clearly we won the one in the UAE which was a fantastic achievement but but outside of that our performances in T20 World Cups have been a little bit mixed um so we feel as though with this squad that we’ve got we’re we’re well placed um to be able to go deep into this tournament there’s no doubt about that but yeah there is an element of knowing what to expecting those moments and trusting that and you look at David Warner for example we feel as though when it comes to World Cups he he brings out his best and in particular when he plays for Australia brings out his best so yeah we have probably lent towards those players that have been there before and done it the format’s a little bit different so the one here it was sudden death so as soon as he lost the game to New Zealand got washed out against England it made it almost impossible there is it um I wonder if it was a bit of an adjustment is there a bit more of a safety layer put in place so that every one progresses to the next phase it feels that way I mean 20 teams um four groups five and then the top two go through um it’s interesting in the fact that whatever you do in those initial rounds doesn’t carry over to the next stage which I found fascinating so the net run rate or you don’t get any benefit of the points that you bank at that stage of the tournament so it’s almost like you play those those games those four games and then it resets to the eight teams so I think it’s almost like once you get to the eight teams it’s going to feel very similar to what it has in previous World Cups where it becomes quite Cutthroat so and the seating is already done so if we get through to the next round we already know who we’re playing so essentially it’s just a matter of navigating through that first part and then it it resets and you go from there and then you start to accumulate your points again and your net run rate so it’ll be cut right once the final eight teams take the field you’re going to fly into New York briefly are you are you glad you’re not playing in the unknown of America or do you wish you were uh part of me feels as it would have been nice to play uh Long Island in a in a popup Stadium would have been interesting and I think the conditions will be no doubt similar to what we get in the drop end surfaces in Australia I think Damen Hoff’s over there preparing them and I think the soil is very similar and that type of thing so I think we would have known what we were getting but um yeah part of me feels as though I’ve missed an opportunity to play in the states with an Australian cricket team but yeah we we’ll know the surfaces that we’re playing on in the West Indies and and the West Indies is an equally exciting place to play cricket are you going to have a look at the ground in New York uh well I’m going there a day earlier so yeah I might stroll around and see what it looks like and and Tak him what New York’s got to offer yes yes 24 hours in New York not a long time but um have you got any view around what the possibilities for Cricket are in America it feels like it’s growing at PACE doesn’t it um with the Major League cricket um there’s an Olympics coming up over there as well um I think they’ve got a a great opportunity to grow the game you know India India Pakistan um in New York is you an incredible feature event and you I think the demand will be there and I think it’ll it it’ll grow exponentially from this um and the ICC put on great events so I can see Cricket really leveraging offering off this no doubt start tonight at midnight it’s Pat cumins and Travis head versus Mitch Stark so rather beautifully at some point we’ll get Stark versus head one imagin how Andrew McDonald how closely have you followed the IPL yeah no pretty closely so wake up the next morning and look at the scorecards and then yeah watch any sort of highlights that are any interest so yeah watching uh head V Stark um it would be fascinating it’s always great to see when our players go up against each other so it’s um yeah and it’s it’s a great effort by the Sunrisers in particular led by Patty cumins to navigate from where they were last year um to where they are this year so yeah we’ll be watching the finals with great interest with five players still left in it what have you made of Pats Captain C oh it’s just business as usual isn’t it so he’s um had success um with what they reach touched so far and um no I think the one thing talking to Dan vtori is um who’s the coach of the the Sunrisers is just his calmness you know amongst all the chaos which is T20 cricket so um he’s clear around what he wants to achieve clear about how he wants to go about it but um Mo most importantly he’s form with the ball has been been impressive as well he’s played slightly a different role hasn’t bowled as many overs in the power play bow a little little bit more overs through the middle um but his his form has been been excellent with the ball how’s Travis head been hitting them uh he’s been hitting them like he usually hits them jeez in some good form he’s in good form yeah unfortunately missed out the other night I think a first ball duck that can happen but um yeah he’s ball striking ability we talked about Jake fasen mcer earlier um but Travis head eally as brilliant um and devastating in this IPL and it has been a a b friendly IPL but um some of the shots have been outrageous what have you made of Mitch Stark’s uh trials so high price under the pump early and Barat keeps us up to speed on this under the pump in India is a totally different phenomenon and he’s worked his way through the tournament to be leading his team to be title favorites it seems yeah they they seem to be clearly the the best team at the moment um but anything can happen when you get to the cutro nature of the finals but yeah slow start which no doubt would have put a immense pressure on him with the price tag and the expectation um of international players in particular in the IPL but he’s been able to navigate through that he’s had some solid performances through the middle and yeah basically he’s two games away from you know being able to deliver a title to to Kolkata so and we know what he’s like in big games um if the ball starts to swing early he can make a massive impact um on any game the other two Australians cam green and Glenn Maxwell so that’s k are isn’t it no that’s RCB scrambled on my challenges Bangalore yes RCB um so Green’s back end of the tournament seems to have been really good yeah really good they had a slow start so they were a team really under the pump and looked unlikely to to venture into this stage of the tournament but I think they went on a six game winning streak and and Cameron Green’s been vitally important in that playing a slightly different role to what we’ve seen him play for Australia where he has played at the top of the order he’s been batting through the middle and um yeah at number four and five they’re trick tricky spots to play in T20 cricket you’ve got to continue the momentum of the Innings and um he’s yeah he’s definitely shown us a different way of playing and it gives us great flexibility and options and one of the most impressive parts for me has been his his work with the ball um he’s been holding down a genuine all-rounders role bowling out he’s you know a lotted overs several times and and having any impact with the ball and Glen Maxwell’s had an interrupted tournament he didn’t play through the middle stages by his own choice have you have you stayed close to him during this tournament just to see how he is yeah definitely I mean we stay in touch with our players regularly via text or or or chatting to them I spoke to Glenn a couple of days ago on the back of uh them getting through to the finals because that clearly changed his travel plans into the West Indies um now he’s going well so he’s been able to invest a bit of time into his body which is always an ongoing U management issue for him so um yeah I think it’s maybe a blessing in disguise that he hasn’t had that that workload that we expected him to have through that tournament um but he played an important part in their last round to getting through to the finals and yeah he’s got an opportunity now to take them you know to deep into the finals is it a challenge for the players coming out of the IPL into the World Cup or is that actually the best preparation I think it’s a little bit of a balance and probably if you look at each individual they’re probably separate cases so um as I said there with with Glenn potentially not playing as much as is a blessing in disguise for him and then and there’s others like Mitchell Stark who hasn’t played a lot of T20 cricket over a period of time he gets more and more game game time so I think it’s you know an individual conversation um the only thing that really alters for us is their their entry point into the West Indies so those guys that have gone deep into the into the IPL finals they’ll join us in Barbados whereas the rest of the players will come to Trinidad where we’ve got a support period for seven days with a couple of practice games so those five players will join us a little bit later so it’s always a little bit disjointed we saw going into the world test Championship final last year as well um you know we had players coming in at different stages so trying to bring that all together is a is a great management conundrum but um we feel as though the players are are well versed in it now and swe who are your practice matches against uh Namibia and the West Indies yep yep so the West Indies in their conditions is a is a good warm-up game it’s a good warm-up game yeah and and then we get the true test obviously round two against England that’s where um we’ll see exactly where we’re at and how we’re progressing uh a couple more broadly so the tests the new series of the test has been released on Friday on Amazon so you haven’t seen this yet but you lived it so that I I got it late last night and I’ve watched the 40 minutes around the be sto stumping which is clearly there’s three episodes it’s mainly geared around what does it look like behind the scenes one of the interesting aspect so I feel like I knew this but crash says it hadn’t been reported was that Pat it was Pat C’s idea to stump Johnny besto and that that essentially leaves Alex car as the trigger man um has he been left to carry too much of the burden of that individually as we look back uh my understanding that that was highlighted at the time that that they were discussing that and Pat was discussing it obviously with Alex um in lifetime so yeah that’s a bit of a shock to me to hear that um that potentially that wasn’t conveyed at the time so my recollection of that was that that was conveyed that Pat was a part of that um and there’s no doubt that that Alex had to burden a lot of that um in particular with the crowd and the fans over there um that zeroed in on him um being that person to be ultimately accountable for what happened but like anything there there’s discussions that go on um Johnny was walking aby’s crease have a go at the stumps and the rest is history so you’re not a participant in that and there’s the moment is shown when you talk to Pat in the aftermath during the lunch break and he’s eating and you have the conversation with him um what are your recollect we’ll all get to see that on Friday what are your Recollections of what you wanted to convey to Pat given the furor was building yeah I think my recollection was that you know you sent it upstairs it was adjudicated by by the Umpire the Umpire or the third umpire gave it out and we got to move on so I just remember that that moment was quite chaotic because of what happened in the long room the boys got up into the change room um and in our change room I suppose that people in stressful moments try to find humor within that um and that’s how they dealt with it but I mean it was a challenge to get them lined up get them back out there and and just calm everyone down around what happened because the the reaction from the crowd I mean everyone saw that uh what happened so it was about getting our Focus back getting the team back to what we need to do and and to go out and continue to to drive that test match and ultimately win it which is what the players were able to do which is an achievement in amongst all that was happening 2020 hindsight was it the right thing to do yeah I still stick by it yeah yeah I don’t think there’s we’re well comfortable with it at the time and and hopefully that shines through and whatever happens in the documentary but that was real that the players were comfortable with what what unfolded and I think Pat’s been on the record in saying that he wouldn’t change it and I think Alex also yep that that is reflected in uh in the the observation of the players both at the time and then in hindsight when they sit down then with an an eye towards this summer so man La is going to open for Glen Morgan does this peak your interest uh it doesn’t Peak my interest but um yeah there’s no doubt that uh it’s been discussed I think I’ve picked up a few few people you know trying to draw the the connection to what may happen next summer you know that’s a long way away still I think Manus I think one of the the great traits of Manus is he would do whatever the team needs and clearly he’s coming to Glamorgan later in the season they’ve got an established three four and five and um he he’s he’s needed to open for what the team requires and yeah and I think I said that on the record last year that most of our players all bet they they’re not going to put their hand up to open um but they would do whatever the team needs and I think that’s reflected in what marus is doing for look Morgan so it was Osman kaj who raised this last week that so he’s of the belief that you’ll all revisit what the opening position looks like for the summer and then make your decision then rather than it’s Smith locked in how does that marry up with your thinking oh we haven’t really thought about it um I think I was clear at the end of New Zealand where we’ve got time to to work work our way into the test summer we’ve got a World Cup we’ve got a tour to England um which is white ball focused um so yeah we’ll just decide on that as we get closer at the moment we’re comfortable leaving New Zealand will we revisit it there’s no doubt we’ll have conversations around many things that we’re going to do uh leading to the summer and we’ll structure up in the best way we think um you know the best way to to defeat India when they come out here which is going to be a tough challenge but it it’s part of he’s really excited about that test summer but we’ got a lot to go before then so India has beaten us the last couple of times out here and I think the the fans are going to get a really great summer so Steve Smith is not in this world cup squad which makes perfect sense on the way that T20 has evolved but it’s still a big step as he’s been a a lynchpin in Australian teams for so long are you at all thinking about the reduction in his white ball schedule hoping to add to his longevity with Red Bull I think it could potentially be a a byproduct of that there’s no doubt about it but it’s you it’s not by Design um you know we’re not sitting there saying we want to strip back the the white ball um exposure for Steve Smith we feel like he’s an integral part of our one- day setup in particular um and then when it comes to the T20 conversation there’s you know last if you think back to the last T20 World Cup he was sort of in and out of that team um he’s been in out team leading into this one and and that’s more to to manage his life around Red Bull cricket and one day international cricket as well um yeah so he hasn’t found his way into this squad but yeah if there’s a blessing in disguise by him not playing T20 cricket then no doubt hopefully it puts a couple of years onto his test career all right we’ll bring you back to the here and the now you’re on a plane tomorrow how does Australia win this world cup how does it win um I think we’ve got many ways many options of the way that we can structure up I think our Flex ability is going to be a key part um we don’t know what the surface is going to offer there’s going to be some slow surfaces there’s going to be some true surfac but we feel as though with that 15 we’ve got so many different ways of playing and we’re not just locked into one way um and I think that’s been a trade of the the teams that we’ve picked for World Cups in the past as well if you think back to the 50 over World Cup we weren’t just hammed into a corner around this is the way we’re going to win it and it’s going to be one way we feel as though we’ve got multiple ways we’ve got a dynamic top order we’ve got bowling options um we’ve got spinning options there in zamper and AAR if if the wickets were to slow up and take some spin so I think it’s yeah it’s our flexibility in the way that we can line up and I think we’ve got adaptable players that’s one thing that they can play all conditions so I feel as though that’s our strength and I think that there’s some other teams that equally have those strengths so um T20 World Cups can be a little bit of a lottery there’s a lot of luck that potentially goes into it uh first first portal call is to make it make our way into the Super eights and we’ll go from there good luck Andrew always appreciate you coming in and I look forward to talking to you over there thanks very much D thanks for having us