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Andrew McDonald: (Image Source: Twitter)
Hours ahead of his departure for the tour of Sri Lanka, Andrew McDonald, Australia’s new head coach, tested positive for the Covid-19. Notably, the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will be Andrew McDonald’s first assignment as Australia’s full-time head coach.
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However, following his Covid-19 positive result, he has been put under isolation for next 6 days, which means that McDonald will miss the first week of the tour. In his absence, assistant coach Michael Di Venuto will take charge of the side for the opening T20I and McDonald would likely be available from the second game onwards.
Notably, Australia are touring Sri Lanka after 6 years. The two teams will lock horns with each other in 3 T20Is, 5 ODIs, and 2 Tests. Head coach, Andrew McDonald believes that the staff will ‘step up’ in his absence.
“I’d like to think I have the coaching staff to step-up, and we can elevate certain coaches at different times to take on different tours and different challenges.
“While doing that it’s only growing the depth of our coaching staff… coaches will get exposed along the journey to help out the workload which is quite significant for a head coach," added McDonald.
Along with Andrew McDonald, Australia have also roped in the likes of Daniel Vettori and ex Victoria and Melbourne Renegades assistant Andre Borovec as full-time assistant coaches in the two-match Test series. As per the schedule, the T20 internationals will be played on 7th, 8th and 11th June 2022. The ODI series will be played from 11th to 24th June. The series will conclude with two Tests.
The first Test is slated to be played from 29th to 3rd July 2022, while the second Test will be played from 8th to 12th July 2022.
Earlier, there were speculations on the possibility of conducting the all-format series amidst the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. However, Sri Lanka Cricket recently confirmed that the series will be conducted as scheduled.
"There is no disruption in the schedule and the white ball games will be night or day-night affairs," SLC secretary Mohan de Silva told Cricbuzz on Tuesday.