It was a tricky World Test Championship cycle: McDonald

While Australia at home is a different beast altogether, Australia on the road, in the sub-continent, have always been wanting to do more. In 2017, Australia came so close to winning a Test series in India after leading the series 1-0, but since then, have never come close to winning a series in the sub-continent. 

That was their biggest challenge in the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle, with tours to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. Under Pat Cummins’ tutelage, the Australian team completed a 1-0 win before drawing a two-match Test series in Sri Lanka 1-1. Come to India, Australia could not prevent a series defeat, with a 2-1 loss. 

However, the wins they accumulated away from home ultimately took them to the final, setting up a date against India in the WTC final. Australis’ head coach, Andrew McDonald, insisted that Australia’s wins in the WTC cycle were instrumental in their success. 

"You can string down series in isolation, you can talk about the subcontinent journey where we went from Pakistan to Sri Lanka into India," McDonald said. 

"We had to navigate through that. So it was a tricky World Test championship cycle. So I think the wins in the subcontinent got us here. We're really strong in Australia. So I think that most people would expect us to be winning Test matches in Australia, but to be able to execute in Pakistan, win a Test match in Sri Lanka and then to get that win in Indore to secure a place in the final was vitally important to give us this opportunity. And we've been able to take that, so it's a job well done,” he added.

Australia narrowly missed out on reaching the final of the first WTC cycle due to slow over-rate, which prevented them from booking a spot in the final. McDonald insisted that they have taken conscious decision since then to look at the over-rate. 

"Every time we come into a series we're checking in around where we are, there's a ladder, albeit stretched out over two years, which is a little bit different to other sports, but yeah, it's high on the priority list. And you put on the priority list, you want to be here and you want to win it and that's what we've been able to do,” McDonald added.

“So it's right up there. And if you go into that dressing room at the moment, there's a lot of happy people about, reflecting on what they've been able to achieve over the last few years."

Mitchell Starc was the costliest Australian pacer on paper during their win over India in the WTC final. However, McDonald wasn’t too concerned about that fact, stating that his role in the team is of a wicket-taker, and the others compliment him really well. 

"We value Mitch and what he's been able to do but we also value Scott and Josh and Patty (Cummins) is clearly an automatic pick being the captain and then you've got Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green in and around that. We feel as though we've got really good coverage and we've got some people here playing county cricket if anything should go wrong."