New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS): Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has said the hosts squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series will be picked after the second Australia A game against India A concludes on November 10 in Melbourne.
The two-match four-day series between India A and Australia A will see Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw and teenager Sam Konstas be in a race to see who opens alongside Usman Khawaja in the all-important five-match series starting on November 22 in Perth.
"I think anytime we’re picking a Test team in particular, I think we’re picking the best team for here and now and if that does encompass a younger player, then we’ll head down that direction.
"We’ve got a shield game to come, we’ve got a couple of Australia A games, so that competition for opening spots is still well and truly open. We’re big believers in not having to make a decision at the selection panel until we have to, and that will be made at the end of the second Australia A game," said McDonald to ABC TV's Offsiders show on Sunday.
He also indicated that if none of the opening contenders put their hand up for selection to the Test team, the side won’t shy away from converting a middle-order batter into an opener, citing previous examples of Simon Katich, Shane Watson and Matthew Wade.
"I like when they’ve had experience in the position they are playing in, but historically across Australian cricket, we’ve had some great success in elevating middle-order players - namely Simon Katich, Shane Watson. These circumstances aren’t unique to this team at this point in time either.
"Thinking back to the last series against India, Matthew Wade was elevated to the opening position from the middle-order and the series before Aaron Finch opened the batting as well.
"I think it’s working out what’s best for the team and also with those middle-order players; sometimes they’re batting three and four for their States because they are the best players and they don’t fill the opening slot.
"So, are they capable of opening? I believe that sometimes they are. It’s really getting a good feel on whether that technique they have and the mindset they go about their work in can cope with the demands of opening in Test cricket."
McDonald signed off by quashing David Warner’s suggestions of coming out of retirement to open the batting in the high-profile series. "His comments, a lot of people ran with. David's retired and he had a magnificent send-off last year. We had no conversations about David coming back.''