Andrew McDonald Credits 'Subcontinent Journey' For WTC Triumph

They might have failed to conquer the 'Final Frontier' on their last tour of India, but Australia head coach Andrew McDonald feels their "sub-continent journey" helped them get the World Test Championship mace. Having missed out due to over-rate penalties in the 2019-21 cycle, Australia on Sunday became the first team to win ICC world titles across formats when they defeated India by 209 runs in a lopsided WTC Final at The Oval. "You can string down series in isolation, you can talk about the subcontinent journey where we went from Pakistan to Sri Lanka into India," McDonald told reporters.

"We had to navigate through that. So, it was a tricky World Test championship cycle and I think the wins in the subcontinent got us here." The Pat Cummins-led side had enjoyed some splendid wins in the sub-continent before travelling to India in pursuit of its first Test series triumph since 2004-05 in the final leg of the WTC cycle.

Before travelling to India, Australia won a three-match series in Pakistan 1-0 with a crushing 115-run defeat of the hosts in Lahore in March.

Then in Sri Lanka, they won the first Test by 10 wickets only to go down by an innings and 39 runs in a drawn 1-1 series.

On turning Indian conditions where the matches failed to last the distance, Australia's biggest bright spot in a 1-2 loss was their nine-wicket win in the third Test in Indore. It also sealed their WTC Final berth with a round to spare in the 2021-23 cycle.

"We're really strong in Australia. So I think that most people would expect us to be winning Test matches in Australia, but to be able to execute in Pakistan, win a Test match in Sri Lanka and then to get that win in Indore to secure a place in the final was vitally important to give us this