Not a big fan of the split-coaching model: Andrew McDonald

Head coach of the Australian Men’s Cricket Team, Andrew McDonald has revealed that he at no point considered taking up coaching duties for the England national team due to split-coaching model, and attested that he is not a fan of boards employing different coaches for different formats.

McDonald, who in April was confirmed as the permanent head coach of the Australian side (all formats), was one of the names being thrown around as a potential successor to Chris Silverwood, but talking to SEN Radio, the 40-year-old revealed that there was ‘never the risk’ that he was going to coach England.

The reason, he revealed, was the structure that the ECB are planning to implement, having different coaches take care of red and white ball cricket. McDonald said that he is not a fan of the split-coaching model because he believes in the ‘continuity of messaging’.

"No I don't think there was a risk," McDonald told SEN, reported ESPN Cricinfo. 

"I think the way that they're going to set-up, structure up, is clear. I think they're going to go for a split coaching role. My views on that differ slightly.

"My belief is to still have that one coach and share the workload within that," McDonald said. "I think for me the continuity of messaging is critical. But also the priorities shift. And people probably don't like me saying this, but the priorities do shift at certain times. You can't be everything to everyone.

"For example, Pat Cummins, on the back of three Test matches in Pakistan, at the end of that he's severely fatigued and then the white-ball team gets compromised because Pat Cummins isn't playing. But he's not ready to perform in that environment.

"If you had split coaches, which format takes priority? So, I think the ability to have one selection panel, one coach to work through that, give the direction to what the priorities are at the time and managing the overall squad as such and then someone, potentially a Michael Di Venuto or another assistant coach, coming in to allow the head coach to balance the workload but still stick on the same path.

"For example, we're going to build towards the 2023 World Cup, am I going to do every one-day game leading into that World Cup? There's no chance of that. So I think that the continuity of messaging for me is important."

The 40-year-old has already tasted success as the head coach of the Australian Men’s side, with the Pat Cummins-led group registering a famous 1-0 series win over Pakistan in March. McDonald’s next assignment is set to be a full-fledged tour of Sri Lanka that will see the Kangaroos play 3 T20Is, 5 ODIs and 2 Tests.