Andrew McDonald has been named head coach of the Australian men’s cricket team on a four-year contract. Cricket Australia said Wednesday that McDonald’s contract had been made permanent after serving as interim coach since Justin Langer did not agree to a short-term contract renewal in February. “The journey so far has been particularly pleasing, and I am honored to be given this incredible opportunity for what is an exciting period ahead,” said McDonald, who was the favorite to secure the job fulltime after Australia’s 1-0 test series win in Pakistan. McDonald joined Australia’s coaching team in 2019 after leading Victoria state and the Melbourne Renegades to all three domestic competition titles during the 2018-19 season. Read: T20 World Cup 2024: ICC Confirmed the Qualification Route for Marquee Events The former test all-rounder has also held head coaching roles in the Indian Premier League and in English county cricket. He had been senior assistant coach with Langer since joining the Australian team. McDonald, who last week returned from the three-test tour of Pakistan, also led Australia to a 2-1 loss in the one-day series and a win in the only T20 International. “We interviewed several excellent candidates for this role, which is one of the most important in Australian sport,” said Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley. “Andrew has already shown he is an outstanding head coach and the vision he outlined for the role during the appointment process was both impressive and exciting, making him our clear choice.”

The top management of the Australian cricket team reportedly had heated arguments with a Cricket Australia website staffer over the posting of a video on Bangladesh's celebrations in the wake of a series win by the Tigers against the visitors. Bangladesh had never won a series against Australia in any format of the game before the T20I matches that took place earlier this month. Bangladesh won the five-match T20I series 4-1. Australia managed to win only one game in the series, thanks to a 30-run over by Shakib Al Hasan, in which Dan Christian had smashed five sixes. Read:Big step towards becoming a big team: Shakib According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian cricket coach Justin Langer and team manager Gavin Dovey were involved in the animated argument. The New South Wales-based media outlet, however, did not reveal the name of the staffer. The video is still on the CA website, which shows the celebrations of the Bangladeshi cricket team post their third game win against Australia. That game had confirmed the series win for the Tigers. In the video, the Bangladesh cricketers can be seen celebrating in the field right after Mahedi Hasan defended 22 in the last over of the third T20I. The video also captured Nazmul Hasan, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president, along with some directors, applauding the team on the win. In the video, some Bangladeshi players can also be heard singing “We Shall Overcome”, a song adopted as the unofficial team anthem years ago, in the dressing room.  Read:Bangladesh beat Australia in final T20, take the series 4-1 According to the SMH report, the incident took place at the team hotel, following the series-clinching third game. The incident was witnessed by at least a dozen people and left some players taken aback and with a sense of unease about what took place.  The report also said the matter was first raised by Dovey. He told the staffer that it’s not appropriate to post a Bangladesh celebration video on a website operated by CA. But the staffer stood his ground over the issue. Subsequently, Langer aimed at the staffer as well.  Dovey has already talked about it publicly. He was quoted by SMH as saying, “A healthy team environment includes the ability to have honest and frank discussions, whether it be between players, support staff or others within the team environment, which was the case here.” Read:Shakib first cricketer with 1000 runs, 100 wickets in T20I “There was a difference of opinion and we agreed to disagree on a particular matter. In hindsight, it was one of those instances which should have taken place in private. I take full ownership of that." Australia played the five-match series against Bangladesh in a span of seven days, following a three-day quarantine after arriving in Dhaka. They lost another five-match T20I series 4-1 against the West Indies, which took place right before their Bangladesh tour.

Right after arriving in Bangladesh, the Australian cricket team went into a three-day quarantine in a hotel in the capital from Thursday. This is dictated by Bangladesh government's Covid-19 protocol, and the Bangladesh cricket team, which arrived back from Zimbabwe the same day, is also now going through the mandatory quarantine of three days.  That should be straightforward enough, but what is proving a far bigger ask is maintaining the strict bio-secure bubble, or biobubble, according to Australia's requirements, and Mushfiqur's exclusion from it. The experienced wicketkeeper-batsman sought to enter the bubble on July 22, two days after it came into effect. As per the agreement between the two cricket boards, both the squads have to maintain a ten-day bio-secured bubble ahead of the series. Since both Bangladesh and Australia were touring Zimbabwe and West Indies respectively, it was not possible for them to maintain a ten-day quarantine period in Dhaka ahead of the five-match T20I series-opening game on August 3. So both the boards came to an agreement to include their respective bio-bubbles in Zimbabwe and the West Indies as part of the pre-series ten-day quarantine in Dhaka which is mandatory. “It’s really unfortunate for Mushfiqur. He had to come back from Zimbabwe as both of his parents were sick, and while staying with them, he missed the quarantine deadline. He was so eager to take part in this series. In that sense, it’s very unfortunate and unfair for him,” Faruque Ahmed, former Bangladesh captain and former chief of the national selector panel, told UNB. Read: BAN vs. AUS 2021: How Bangladesh Team Shapes Up Without Tamim, Mushfiqur? “We know that before a series, all the involving boards came to an agreement. I’m sure it took place ahead of this series as well. Since we have been living in a pandemic for more than one and a half years, Australia came up with some conditions to ensure their safety, and BCB agreed to that as Australia are visiting Bangladesh after a long time,” he added. Mushfiqur had earlier decided to skip the T20Is against Zimbabwe to be fit and available for the Australia series. However, he had to come back from Zimbabwe early for his parents’ sickness. Bangladesh team members also believe that it was unfair that Mushfiqur was not allowed to enter the bio-secure bubble. Some of them pointed to the absurdity of not allowing Mushfiqur to enter the bubble following appropriate testing, when the entire team had gone through four airports - Harare, Johannesburg, Delhi and Dhaka - on their return trip from Zimbabwe, and that didn't violate the bubble apparently. “We came in a commercial flight passing through three airports so I don't know if it makes much sense to keep Mushfiqur out of the series. He went back home from the middle of a tour for a family problem. So to not allow him to enter the quarantine after just two or three days, is not right,” a Bangladesh team member was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. Read: Mushfiqur to miss T20 series against Australia over isolation norms Bangladesh are going to miss the services of Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das as well. Mustafizur Rahman is also doubtful  for the first couple of matches as the pacer has been suffering from an ankle injury sustained during a tour match in Zimbabwe. There are worries over Shakib Al Hasan’s fitness as well. Indeed to fulfil Australia’s demand, Bangladesh had to manage quarantine for match officials, ground staff, and technicians who operate DRS. Bangladesh also managed a direct path for the Australian team to get to their team hotel from the airport tarmac, bypassing immigration. The five-match series will be packed into a week, with the first match on Monday, August 3. Then again on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and the final fixture on Sunday, August 9. All the matches will be hosted at the single venue— Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

To play a five-match T20Is series against the Tigers, the Australia cricket team arrived in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon. They will now have to maintain a strict in-room quarantine in a hotel in the capital for three days.  Australian cricket team took a chartered flight from Barbados to reach Dhaka. They arrived in Dhaka at 4 p.m. on Thursday. This is Australia's first tour to Bangladesh in four years. Read:Triumphant Tigers are back! The five-match T20Is series will begin on August 3, with the other matches will be played on August 4, 6, 7 and 9. All the matches will be hosted at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  The Australian team was not bound to maintain traditional immigration at the airport in Dhaka. They travelled directly to the team hotel from the airport. They will start their pre-series preparation after maintaining this quarantine period. 

The Australian cricket team is scheduled to tour Bangladesh in August. Ahead of the T20I World Cup that will be played in the UAE this year, they will play a five-match series against the hosts in early August.  The tentative dates set for the series are August 2-8. Akram Khan, the chair of cricket operations of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), on Wednesday said the BCB is trying to fulfil every demand of Cricket Australia to ensure a safe tour. “We have been working to ensure all that Cricket Australia demanded,” Akram told the media. “If everything goes well, we hope they will continue with the tour. We have already completed 90-95 percent preparation to host them.” Also read: Bangladesh to host Australia for five T20Is in August The series was originally scheduled for three T20Is, but the BCB requested Australia to play five matches instead of three, and Australia agreed to that. As part of the safety requirements, Cricket Australia asked BCB to manage free emigration for the Australian team members. They have also asked to arrange a hotel free from other guests, and a single venue for all the matches. Akram Khan said the board is doing its best to fulfil all these demands. Also read: BAN vs ZIM 2021: Significant Test and T20I Records Between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe He also played down allegations flying around that the Bangladesh A team is suffering from lack of activity or neglect. He said: “It’s a misconception that we are not doing anything with the Bangladesh A team. All the cricketing activities were on hold due to the Covid-19 situation. We had arranged a series in October 2021. We couldn’t continue it due to the outbreak of Covid-19.” Akram also said that Bangladesh A team will tour Sri Lanka in November this year, and it might be for a series of longer version cricket. However, he didn’t disclose more about this series.

India could make up to five changes for the second cricket test against Australia beginning Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground while the home side is expected to go unchanged.