Home Cricket News Borovec to coach Australia for India T20Is with McDonald resting

Borovec to coach Australia for India T20Is with McDonald resting

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Borovec to coach Australia for India T20Is with McDonald resting


Australia coach Andrew McDonald will return home after the ODI World Cup to rest and prepare for the summer of Tests, with assistant coach Andre Borovec taking charge of the senior team for the first time in the five-match T20I series against India which starts next Thursday. in Visakhapatnam.

McDonald is also taking a break ahead of the summer Test which begins against Pakistan in Perth on December 14. He was also rested from the T20I series against South Africa in late August, where assistant Michael Di Venuto took the reins. Since Di Venuto will also have a season after a long year on the road, Borovec will have his first opportunity to coach the national team.

Borovec, 45, is highly regarded within the Australian team and has served a long coaching apprenticeship without playing first-class cricket. He began his coaching career in Victorian grade cricket with Geelong, a club for which he played 330 matches over more than 23 years as a wicketkeeper-batsman. He coached McDonald at the club at the end of his playing career.

Borovec then joined McDonald’s coaching staff at Melbourne Renegades and Victoria, where he was part of their 2018-19 BBL triumph after being heavily involved in their strategy.

His first assignment with Australia as an assistant coach came in 2021 during the white-ball tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh. He also toured with Australia in the 2022 tour of Pakistan. He was then added to Australia’s coaching staff as a full-time assistant when McDonald took over as head coach in May 2022.

Borovec has since combined his assistant duties with the Australia team while taking charge of the Australia A programme. He coached Australia A on the tour of Sri Lanka in June 2022 and then oversaw the Prime Minister’s XI team for the match. of the tour against the West Indies in November last year. He also coached Australia A for the tour of New Zealand in April, immediately after Australia’s Test tour of India.

Borovec did not lead Australia A during the home series against New Zealand A in August and September, with coach Adam Voges, a two-time Western Australia and Scorchers treble winner, in charge.

The Indian T20I series schedule allows for a state coach to take over due to Sheffield Shield, Marsh Cup and BBL commitments.

Australia has regularly resorted to seconding coaches in recent years to avoid burnout due to busy schedules. Former coach Justin Langer took charge of specific white-ball series during Darren Lehmann’s tenure before taking on the job full-time in 2018, while McDonald also took charge of several white-ball series during Langer’s tenure.

Former WA and Victoria coach and current Cricket Australia head of development Lachlan Stevens will also travel to India to assist Borovec.