McDonald praise for Australia duo

When the curtain was drawn on the 2015 season, it was clear to see that Australian duo Mark Cosgrove and Clint McKay had made a big impact in their first campaign at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.

Cosgrove led the side and ended as the team’s leading runscorer in both the County Championship and NatWest T20 Blast, while McKay was a model of consistency across all three formats.

The duo will play a key part of Leicestershire’s leadership group in 2016 with Cosgrove remaining as the club’s skipper in first-class cricket and McKay assisting Mark Pettini as vice captain in white ball cricket.

Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald explained that the move to create a leadership group has been made to provide greater support to Cosgrove.

McDonald empathised with the challenges Cosgrove had in 2015 - he was in the same situation himself - and said that the decision had been made after a lot of thought.

“It wasn’t a decision that came up overnight and there were a lot of conversations. I met with Cozzie (Mark Cosgrove) in Adelaide a few times this winter and we went through it all,” said McDonald.

“We decided that this was the best way forward for Leicestershire and he’s on board with that because he wants to see Leicestershire do well in all three formats. Obviously he would have liked to have had all three formats but he understood the decision.

“Cozzie has a lot of information from last season about the players and he can bring others up to speed. So in one sense there’s continuity but we have also recognised that the workloads are too much. Some counties have gone down the same route, and some teams have even gone for three captains, but we have decided to split it between red and white ball.

“Cozzie had a big task coming in last year. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have won more games in certain formats but he was outstanding in the last five games in terms of his own performances, and his leadership improved as the season went on.

“That happens because once you get to know a group you improve naturally. It’s never easy when you first come into a group as you have to get to know everybody. It was the same for me coming in April 1^st last year - I know a lot more now than I did on April 1^st last year.

“It goes without saying that we’re all improving along this journey and we’re getting to know each other better. The big task now is to make sure the leadership group has all of the information they need on each player before the start of the season, and we’ll do that over the next couple of months.”

McDonald was full of admiration for the way that McKay went about his business at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road. The 32-year-old spearheaded the attack in the County Championship and also showed his vast array of skills in white ball cricket. McKay’s execution in NatWest T20 Blast was a joy to watch and it was little surprise to see him be the top wicket-taker in the KFC Big Bash recently.

“When you build an attack around somebody of the calibre of Clint McKay, you will see positive effects because of the way he goes about his work,” said McDonald. “He is a banker in all three formats for us and is recognised as one of the best white ball bowlers in the world. He has an exceptional record with Australia and we recently saw the impact he had at Sydney Thunder too.

“Not only did Ben Raine improve, but his impact also helped Charlie Shreck, who had his best season for a long time. Shrecky (Charlie Shreck) is now also having an impact as our Bowling Development Coach and is continuing as a player. Age is no barrier when you perform like Shrecky did last season.

“We saw that Clint left his mark because when he wasn’t here for the last two games, Ben Raine stepped into a leadership role and the younger bowlers like Ollie Freckingham, Rob Taylor and Zak Chappell came in and took ownership of their own games, which was great to see.”

Cosgrove and McKay are currently playing in the Sheffield Shield and recently came across each other as South Australia took on Victoria respectively. Both states are going well but it was McKay who was smiling on that occasion as he took the wicket of Cosgrove in the second innings as Victoria landed an important victory. 

“Those last five County Championship games last season created an excitement about the group and that was a great way to end. Cozzie and Clint are enjoying their domestic season in Australia but are also really keen to get back here and push the club forward,” said McDonald.

“The plan is for them both to be here at the start of April but the Sheffield Shield Final goes later this year, so we have to be mindful of that with Victoria and South Australia going well.

“Cozzie and Clint will be on light duties when they get here with a view to getting ready for April 17. You may see them in the university game, like when Cozzie played against Cambridge MCCU last season, but we will assess it as everybody will be on an individual programme with the first game at Glamorgan in mind.”

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