Islamabad
\nLimited overs captain Aaron Finch Thursday hailed the \u201ccalm\u201d approach Andrew McDonald brings to the Australian team as the interim coach emerges among the favourites to take over from Justin Langer.
\nThe highly-regarded McDonald, who had been an assistant to Langer since 2019, will lead the side during their Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka starting Friday in what is being seen as an audition for a permanent stay.
\nHe took the reins after Langer abruptly left last weekend, having failed to secure the public support of key players despite guiding Australia to an emphatic 4-0 Ashes victory over England and a maiden T20 World Cup title.
\nDisgruntled players had complained anonymously to local media over recent months about Langer\u2019s intense management style, and Finch sang the praises of McDonald as someone who \u201cnever gets flustered\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings a lot of respect from the players (and) he has a calm approach,\u201d he told reporters in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never seems to get flustered by any situation or result — it\u2019s all about the process and making sure your preparation and attention to detail is 100 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been around the team for quite a while now, so it\u2019s exciting times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finch also made clear Langer had done a sterling job since taking over after the infamous \u201cSandpaper-gate\u201d ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a playing group we couldn\u2019t thank him enough and I know personally, the amount of work he\u2019s done for me as a batter, as a person, as a leader has been fantastic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Finch echoed the view of Test captain Pat Cummins who stressed on Wednesday the new coach needed to take a more collaborative approach and seek advice from senior players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the group is in a really different space from four years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s quite an experienced group so there\u2019ll be a lot of opinions and there\u2019s going to be a lot of people who want to be consulted and to talk through different scenarios, and I think that\u2019s a really good place to start.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Limited overs captain Aaron Finch Thursday hailed the \u201ccalm\u201d approach Andrew McDonald brings to the Australian team as the interim coach emerges among the favourites to take over from Justin Langer. The highly-regarded McDonald, who had been an assistant to Langer since 2019, will lead the side during their Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n