Pioneering Borovec takes the reins as PM's clash returns

Andre Borovec's pioneering rise through Australian cricket's coaching ranks will continue next month when he takes the helm of the Prime Minister's XI with the traditional clash to return for the first time in three summers.

Cricket Australia announced on Friday the PM's XI will play a four-day day-night pink ball fixture against the West Indies from November 23-26 that will serve as a hit out for the tourists ahead of the first NRMA Insurance Test in Perth beginning November 30.

The annual fixture hadn't been played during the previous two summers due to pandemic restrictions, with former Adelaide Striker, local ACT product and current Meteors coach Jono Dean – who once played in the PM's XI coincidentally against the Windies – joining the ranks as Borovec's assistant.

It's the second national head coaching appointment in a matter of months for Borovec, a former schoolteacher turned trusted right-hand man of Australia head coach Andrew McDonald, after he oversaw the four-match Australia A tour of Sri Lanka in June.

Borovec, who played more than 330 matches of Premier Cricket over a 23-year career with Geelong, is one of few international coaches not to have played first-class cricket and has taken a somewhat unique path to Australia's elite coaching ranks.

The former first-grade wicketkeeper had graduated to head coach of Geelong in 2015 when he crossed paths with McDonald in the twilight of his playing career before the four-Test allrounder was appointed Victorian and Melbourne Renegades coach in August 2016.

Such was impression Borovec left on McDonald that two years later he was working under him as an assistant coach with both teams.

But despite never having played at the level he now coaches, he doesn't consider himself a trailblazer.

"I've always just seen coaching as a job really and it's a job that I absolutely love," Borovec said in Canberra on Friday morning following the announcement of the fixture.

"I think it's something that well credential coaches can do full stop whether they have that international experience or not.

"It's something I've never thought about really deeply because I've just focused on the job at hand at the time whether that be an assistant coaching role or a head coaching role.

"The times like this (PM's XI fixture) gives you a chance to dabble into the head coaching spaces is just useful for your development as a coach full stop."

Borovec's first taste of international coaching came in mid-2021 when he was seconded for the national side's white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh, with McDonald having accepted the role of Australian senior coaching assistant under Justin Langer in October 2019.

Another stint during the historic tour of Pakistan in March with McDonald now as interim head coach following the resignation of Langer then led to Borovec being appointed as an assistant coach full-time in May.

But he said he hasn't yet contemplated his own permanent head coaching role in top-level cricket and is just focused on using each opportunity to further his own development.

"These moments have come up from time to time with the A team in Sri Lanka, now with this PM's XI side, I just think the opportunity to take head coaching roles as they come along is a good thing to do to maintain your currency," Borovec said.

"The next 12 to 18 months is so busy in terms of what's coming up with the (T20) World Cup, Test cricket, Test Championship, 50-over World Cup., so my number one job is to support the coaching staff in my primary role.

"For myself and Jono, our main role (for this fixture) is to provide that environment for the players to succeed and above all, enjoy the experience."

This year's fixture will recognise the 70th anniversary of the inaugural match in 1951, also against the West Indies, and it will also be the first time the match had been held as a pink ball fixture under lights at Manuka Oval.

National selection panel chair George Bailey is expected to liaise with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the selection of the squad, and although it clashes with the fifth round of the Marsh Sheffield Shield, the nature of the contest being a four-day fixture means it could feature players on the verge of national selection.

"The timing of the game leading into the Test summer … is just a really important part of the season to maintain or regain form and for other players to put their name up in lights," Borovec said.

"For players it's a steppingstone in their ability to play against international teams.

"The pink-ball nature of this game gives it some uniqueness (but) above all it's opportunity and information gathering for selectors and coaches."

Tickets to the Prime Minister’s XI match are on sale now and available here.