Marnus Labuschagne became the most likely candidate to open the batting in the first Ashes Test by missing the West Indies carnage
Six months on from being dropped, Marnus Labuschagne looks most likely to be opening the batting in the first Ashes Test. What did he do to precipitate the change? Absolutely nothing, writes Robert Craddock
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
At least we now know why Australia was so patient with David Warner … there was no-one else.
For a nation as strong and stable as Australia to change an opening batsman seven times in 15 Tests is as bat-poo crazy as it gets.
It’s anyone guess which opener will shine brightest in the four Shield games before the first Ashes Test in Perth but all things being equal Marnus Labuschagne is the man they have to beat.
Two 50s in the Shield games should get him in the Test team to partner Usman Khawaja who, ironically, used to playfully taunt Labuschagne for having “openingitis’’ due to his alleged unwillingness to bat at the top of the order.
The supreme irony of Labuschagne’s predicament is that for two years he scrambled like mad to rage against the issues of fading form yet his stocks have actually risen by doing nothing after he was spared being part of the batting chaos in the West Indies.
If it is a 50-50 call between Labuschagne and another batsman Labuschagne is likely to win it because he is an expert fieldsman and his Test record, including an average of 46, proves, at his best, he can handle whatever England can throw at him.
No-one else in the race can say that.
Marcus Harris and Cam Bancroft have never scored a Test century. Matt Renshaw has scored one but he averaged 29 in Sheffield Shield cricket last season.
People are getting excited over Jake Weatherald’s form last summer but after 72 first class matches he averaged 36.
That is far from terrible but as Ricky Ponting says, if you averaged mid-30s in the Shield in his day your coach would take you for a coffee and say “listen have you thought of maybe getting a trade or a degree … maybe cricket is not your calling?’’
The worry with having a Sheffield Shield shootout is that it may over-rate short term form. If Harris gets hot and makes two centuries is he really equipped to take on Jofra Archer and perhaps Mark Wood in Perth?
Opening batsmen are under siege world wide. New balls are doing more. Wickets are generally left with an extra spoonful of spice.
It raises the question … what is actually a pass mark?
In bygone eras no batsman with a Test average below 40 felt comfortable about his place in the side but that mark has come down.
It would be fascinating to ask Australia’s selectors if they knew Khawaja’s partner – whoever it is – would average, say, 33 in the Ashes would they take it right now and run.
We sense they would. What about 30? Maybe. 27? Probably not but they would not be heartbroken. The bar is low and getting lower but out of every failed experiment comes the incentive for someone to step up and be the saviour no-one saw coming.
Originally published as Marnus Labuschagne became the most likely candidate to open the batting in the first Ashes Test by missing the West Indies carnage
Amazing Grace set to tackle cricket’s great frontier – the USA
A decade after Matthew Hayden played in an All Stars match that took cricket to America, now his daughter, Grace, will do so in her own way.
Craft, curiosity, connection: Inside Rogers’ quest
In the early stages of pre-season, Chris Rogers throws more than makeshift off-spinners – he tosses up forgotten craft and a vision beyond the state boundary.