The head coach Andrew McDonald has confirmed that the Australian squad will remain unchanged for the second test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy but there are some concerns over Mitchell Marsh’s fitness after a 295-run defeat in Perth.
He also confirmed that the entire squad would convene in Adelaide on Monday a day earlier than was originally planned as the side planned to hold an extra net session before the second test.
“The same people in that changeroom are the same people that will be in Adelaide,” said Andrew McDonald.
While speaking about Marsh’s workload he said “We’ll wait and see.” The coach feels that Australia bad ben caught short with bowling options in Perth due to Marsh’s fitness, despite taking 16 wickets on the surface where India picked 20 wickets.
“No we didn’t feel that [was a weakness],” McDonald said. “We knew that Mitch [Marsh] was slightly underdone coming in but I thought the performance in the first innings was satisfactory.”
Australia could be searching for more overs from their part-timers in Adelaide: https://t.co/xRJDicrSdh#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Te5ObKr8yh
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 26, 2024
He also confirmed that the same playing 11 would feature in Adelaide and whether Inglis could be considered to replace a specialist batter.
“We’ll assess that as we go along, but as I said the squad that’s in there, they’ll be in Adelaide,” he said.
There is also concern on Marnus Labuschagne’s form and McDonald acknowledged that there will be a lot conversations with the player about his batting over the next 11 days but they were confident he was the best option No.3 if he can rediscover him.
“That’s an ongoing discussion and that ebbs and flows in players’ careers, so at the moment he’s in one of those patches and no doubt he’ll be getting critiqued externally,” McDonald said.
“But internally we’re really confident that, at his best, he’s the player that we need.”
The selectors had a difficult choice while selecting Nathan McSweeney and also have been Beau Webster is another who has been profilic in Shield cricket in recent times at no.6 only.
The selectors lack of faith in Marcus Harris, Cameron bancroft and Matt Renshaw has been evident in last 12 months when none of them have been selected for the opening slot becoming available twice in that time.
“I think there’s been enough players banging down the door,” he said. “I feel as though we’ve got some depth there if called upon.”
“I think sometimes people look at the pure numbers of what’s happening in Shield cricket, but it’s sometimes hard to get a connection with the surfaces they’re sometimes playing on.”
“So we feel as though we’ve got ample players available if called upon.” McDonald added that the Perth performance would centre around Australia’s failures with both bat and ball were down to poor planning or poor execution.
“It’s always a combination,” McDonald said. “We felt as though our planning going in was where we needed it to be. Execution in amongst that is always a question. We were comfortable with the plans.”
“Clearly the method with the batters and the way they’ve been challenged is always going to be a learning moving forward. So we’ve got some challenges, no doubt about that.”
Trailing by 0-1, Australia will take on India in the second test of the series starting on December 06 at Adelaide Oval.
