London [UK], June 15 (ANI): Australia head coach Andrew McDonald hinted at a rejig in the top order after misfiring in the World Test Championship (WTC) final defence against South Africa at Lord’s.
Marnus Labuschagne was a hot topic during the buildup to the high-stakes final, which Australia lost by five wickets. Amid his lean phase with the bat, Labuschagne was promoted to the top of the order with hopes of his return to blazing form. However, he returned with scores of 17 and 22, leaving him with an average of 27.82 for the WTC cycle and making his position in the team uncertain.
With Australia’s tour of the West Indies scheduled to begin on June 25, young Sam Konstas has been pushing his case for a return to the top spot since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Labuschagne could retain his spot if Steve Smith fails to recover in time after sustaining a finger injury on the third day of the WTC final.
“It was a big discussion leading into this Test match, and I was on the record a couple of weeks ago talking about the need to bed down that opening combination. We’ve had a bit of musical chairs there, so it might be the time,” head coach Andrew McDonald said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
Australia’s seasoned opener, Usman Khawaja, returned to the unwanted spotlight after his twin dismissals to Kagiso Rabada at Lord’s. Earlier this year, Khawaja struck his career-best 232 against Sri Lanka three Tests ago. However, his Achilles Heel against pace from around the wicket was again exposed.
Despite his struggles, Khawaja is expected to enjoy an elongated run, just like his former partner David Warner received when he was under question during the latter stage of his career. If Khawaja continues to get backed, he will be one of the candidates for the highly anticipated Ashes later this year.
“He’s on contract, he’s an important player. He gives us stability at his best at the top. And we like to look at our players at their best. No doubt, a couple of failures here and people then start to talk about maybe it’s the end. I don’t see an end date with the way he’s training, the way he’s preparing, the way he’s moving. He went back to Shield cricket, got 100 last [season]. So I think he’s got plenty of runs left in him,” McDonald said
“It’ll come down to his inner drive and the way he prepares. It was a bit the same with Davey as well. The way he moved, we saw some positives in that. We knew that the runs were around the corner. We feel as though Usman’s got a big part to play,” he added. (ANI)
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