Australia’s limited-overs tour of England in September got sealed as Cricket Australia announced a 21-member squad. While Aaron Finch‘s men will have the services of their head coach Justin Langer, the assistant coach Andrew Mcdonald will stay out.
The reason being that Andrew Mcdonald has a pre-existing commitment with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals.
Australia are scheduled to feature in three ODIs and three T20Is from the 4th to 16th of September. All of Australia’s frontline players including David Warner, Steve Smith, Aaron Finch, and Pat Cummins have been picked.
Andrew Mcdonald will prepare himself to fly to the UAE, where the 13th season of the cash-rich league will happen. The former all-rounder, who played four Tests for the national team, served as the national team’s coach during India’s white-ball tour of India earlier this year.
Cricket Australia confirmed the news in a statement that Mcdonald will not be present with the tourists in England. In October 2019, the 39-year old was appointed as the head coach of Rajasthan Royals.
Previously, he was also the bowling coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore and guided Victoria to the Sheffield Shield title in his first year as coach.
“Australian men’s team Senior Assistant Coach Andrew McDonald will not travel with the squad to the UK to fulfill a pre-existing commitment as Head Coach of the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League,” Cricket Australia claimed.
Australia and England players to miss the first week of IPL:
Aussie and English players including Aaron Finch, Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, David Warner, Pat Cummins, and Ben Stokes will miss the initial phase of the extravaganza in the UAE.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, players are required to spend six days in isolation on arrival in the UAE as per the SOPs.