Australian coach Andrew McDonald defends call to give David Warner farewell tour amid debate over opening role

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has defended the move to give David Warner a farewell tour last summer in the face of criticism it has left them playing from behind leading into the much-anticipated series against India.

Selectors will wait until closer to the November 22 start date for the opening test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series to make a call on who will open with Usman Khawaja.

And that race is heating up again on Thursday, with an Australia A match underway in McKay involving the four top contenders.

Australian staff have copped widespread criticism around their call to play Warner in three home Tests against Pakistan late last year and then elevate Steve Smith to opening in an experiment that never got off the tarmac.

Smith will slide back down the order to face India, a move which leaves a vacancy for an opener.

But McDonald is adamant they made the right call in picking their best available team for series against Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand.

“I think you could debate that, but we felt once again the priority was to pick the best team at that point in time, David Warner was in our best team, his performances against Pakistan were of the highest level on the way out and then obviously the Steve Smith debate, we had an appetite to get Cameron Green into that team,” he told SEN.

“His performances were excellent for that period of time, that big 170 in the first Test match over there (New Zealand). Whenever you make a move sometimes people don’t represent what has happened on the back of that move, and that was Cameron Green’s success.

“Steve Smith performed OK, he got that 90-odd at the Gabba, carried his bat in that innings and given time, who knows what that would have looked like.

“But I don’t think we missed an opportunity, we made the right decision at the right time. Now, with what’s in front of us, we are making a different decision.”

Warner made a century in The West Test against Pakistan during that series amid heavy criticism of his form after that year’s Ashes series.

But McDonald, who extended his contract with the national team on Wednesday, conceded he would prefer for the order to be more settled before a crucial series.

“The ideal scenario is that you are settled leading in and that there are no gaps, but it wouldn’t have created the spotlight on shield cricket that it has and the Australia A games, so it has given great relevance to what is a fantastic competition,” he said.

Cam Bancroft’s last Test match was during the 2019 Ashes series under mentor Justin Langer. Marcus Harris is the only one of the contenders that have played a match during McDonald’s tenure.

But McDonald said the pair, who have both had a crack previously, had a body of work that was “hard to dismiss” in the debate.

“I have had a lot to do with Marcus, a little bit to do with Cameron Bancroft, but they are all in the mix,” he said.

“The one thing I’d like to reiterate is that they’re all really good players and sometimes within the debate we look to the negatives. Every player that is mentioned is a very good player in their own right at first-class level. Our challenge is getting what it looks like against India as well.

“We need the best player with the skillset to perform against India, not always just the best performer.

“There is a body of work behind Cameron and Marcus that is hard to dismiss — they have been through it.”

Teen sensation Sam Konstas began the Sheffield Shield season with twin tons in a game against South Australia, but McDonald pointed to his lack of experience in other conditions.

“Even if you look at the surfaces they have played on, Sam Konstas hasn’t played at the WACA or Perth Stadium through my knowledge and pink-ball cricket he hasn’t played a lot of, then you go to the Gabba and they are the first three Test matches,” he said.

“The art of trying to work out what that player looks like on those surfaces against that opponent, versus someone that has been there and done it, is a philosophical debate and one worth having.”