McDonald: 'Really difficult' to make accurate judgements from Test series because of surfaces

Australia coach Andrew McDonald believes it is difficult to draw too many long-term conclusions around the team's batting from the West Indies tour given the often hazardous conditions they faced, particularly at Sabina Park which he termed at times "didn't even look like cricket".

McDonald, who questioned the future of the pink Dukes ball in Test cricket, was confident Sam Konstas wouldn't suffer negatively from the experience of the tour as he slips back into the pack of opening contenders ahead of the Ashes. He also does not expect Marnus Labuschagne to be out of the side for long having already seen encouraging signs during his training since being dropped in Barbados.

"It's really difficult to make accurate judgments on both batting units based upon the surfaces that we played on," McDonald told The New Ball on SEN Radio. "And you take that into the third Test, which is a pink-ball Dukes on that surface, that game just moved way too fast and at times, it didn't even look like cricket.

"…That cricket was borderline impossible to play at certain stages. Some of those deliveries from Mitchell Starc, the way that ball behaved under lights. So it's a bigger question for what the pink Dukes looks like for Test match cricket, really."

He conceded, though, that the series had left questions rather than answering them. "It feels as though we'll still be a little bit unsettled in terms of what our combinations look like at the top of the order with the way that the performances have gone here," he said. "In saying that, there's a lot of cricket still to come to be able to gather that information."

Konstas ended the series averaging 8.33 having only once made it past 20 and he cut a forlorn figure in the closing days of the series, dropping a couple of catches during West Indies' 27 all out and misfielding to allow them to escape equaling the lowest Test total.

There remains a chance he could still open against England in Perth when the Ashes starts in late November, but that will likely require a surge of runs in the early part of the Sheffield Shield season which shapes as a bat-off to open alongside Usman Khawaja, who retains the selectors' backing for the home summer.

It has been questioned whether Konstas' series did him more harm than good, but McDonald did not buy into that perception.

"I don't think anyone's damaged by being exposed to Test cricket because I think what it does do is it gives you a taste of what that level is like," he said. "All the things that come around being a Test cricketer, not just purely going out there, marking centre and going about your business.

"There's no doubt he's got some things to work on, like all our players do, and they continually work on. He's clear on what they are. We feel as though across the journey, he's a highly talented player, and I hate to use that word talent, but his skillsets over time, I think we'll see the real Sam Konstas.

"At the moment he's juggling his aggressive nature, he's juggling his technique and the way he really wants to go about playing it. But when you've got up-and-down seaming wickets, it can force you into those corners a lot quicker than some surfaces that potentially are batter friendly, which we were expecting to get here."

Konstas replaced Labuschagne at the top of the order after the latter had been given a chance to open in the World Test Championship final. Labuschagne was then dropped for the first time since 2019 but there is a sense the selectors are already looking at how they can get him back in the side.

Opening would appear Labuschagne's likely route to return given Cameron Green's strong finish in the Caribbean at No. 3 although there is also a scenario where Green slips back to the middle order. McDonald reiterated that there wouldn't be a need for Labuschagne to open for Queensland to be considered for the Test role.

"I think towards the end there [before being left out], and Marnus won't mind me saying this, that there was a little bit of going backward and forward on plans and at certain stages he wasn't clear," he said. "He's got great clarity leaving here, which is a successful tour, albeit he hasn't played a game…and [we] look forward to what he does coming into the early Shield rounds and then putting his hand up for selection for Perth.

"But he's a quality player. He averages 46 in Test match cricket. We feel as though this wasn't going to be a huge gap before he does return because of the quality, but the start of the Shield season will really shape that."

Meanwhile, McDonald confirmed that Starc will join Pat Cummins in sitting out the white-ball matches against South Africa in the Top End during August.