Despite wrapping up the Test series against West Indies with a 3-0 margin, Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald has said it is difficult to draw long-term conclusions on the team’s batting performances. In a series where the bowlers dominated the proceedings with neither of the sides even posting a total of 300 in three Tests, the final one played at Sabina Park under lights with the Pink Ball saw the hosts being bowled for 27.
With the conditions being bowler-friendly across conditions, McDonald who said the final Test ‘didn’t even look like cricket, questioned the future of Pink Ball Tests with Dukes ball. “It’s really difficult to make accurate judgments on both batting units based upon the surfaces that we played on,” McDonald told SEN Radio. “And you take that into the third Test, which is a pink-ball Dukes on that surface, that game just moved way too fast and at times, it didn’t even look like cricket. That cricket was borderline impossible to play at certain stages. Some of those deliveries from Mitchell Starc, the way that ball behaved under lights. So it’s a bigger question for what the pink Dukes looks like for Test match cricket, really,” he said.
The Caribbean tour was supposed to provide Australia some answers ahead of the Ashes that they are scheduled to host later this year. And McDonald said the tour has left with more questions. “It feels as though we’ll still be a little bit unsettled in terms of what our combinations look like at the top of the order with the way that the performances have gone here. In saying that, there’s a lot of cricket still to come to be able to gather that information,” he said.
While opener Sam Konstas’ batting undoubtedly came under scrutiny, McDonald believed Marnus Labuschagne, who was dropped for the series, could soon come back into the fold. With the opening slot continuing to give trouble, Labuschagne could take up the spot if Cameron Green continues to bat at No 3. If not, Australia may end up slotting Labuschagne at one down with Green pushed down the middle-order.
“I think towards the end there [before being left out], and Marnus won’t mind me saying this, that there was a little bit of going backward and forward on plans and at certain stages he wasn’t clear. He’s got great clarity leaving here, which is a successful tour, albeit he hasn’t played a game…and look forward to what he does coming into the early Shield rounds and then putting his hand up for selection for Perth. But he’s a quality player. He averages 46 in Test match cricket. We feel as though this wasn’t going to be a huge gap before he does return because of the quality, but the start of the Shield season will really shape that,” he said.
