McDonald named coach of Melbourne Renegades

Andrew McDonald, the former Australia allrounder, has been confirmed as the new coach of the Melbourne Renegades. McDonald has impressed as coach of Leicestershire over the past two seasons and has been linked with the job of Victoria coach, which like the Renegades position has been vacated by Australia's new assistant coach David Saker.

"I'm delighted to have been appointed head doach at the Melbourne Renegades and it's a role I'm very much looking forward to," McDonald said. "The Big Bash League is extremely competitive and you do need some luck in this league but you create that as well. The smarter we play as a team and the more pressure we can put on our opposition, the more we'll find ourselves in winning positions."

McDonald, who played four Tests for Australia during 2009, began his BBL career with the Renegades before moving to the Sydney Thunder. He played one game for the Thunder last summer but at 35, coaching appears to be the future for McDonald.

"We had a good field of people who were very interested in this role and we're really pleased Andrew has agreed to come back to the Melbourne Renegades as our next coach," Stuart Coventry, the Renegades CEO, said.

"Andrew has a wide breadth of experience playing for Australia and from a T20 perspective in the Indian Premier League, the BBL and now in his coaching role at Leicestershire. He obviously knows plenty of the players in our squad so he'll be a great fit to inspire our team towards a finals appearance this season."