The opening batting conundrum for Australian selectors ahead of the WTC final, likely squad to be announced
Ahead of Australia’s 15-man squad announcement for the World Test Championship final, the greatest intrigue surrounds 19-year-old Sam Konstas and who will open the batting at Lord’s.
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Australia is having a Sam Konstas conundrum as they plot towards the Ashes, with Josh Hazlewood also under a cloud leading into the World Test Championship Final.
Second spinner Matthew Kuhnemann is expected to squeeze into the final vacancy in Australia’s 15-man squad to be announced on Tuesday in Brisbane which will face South Africa on June 11 at Lord’s.
That same touring party with the expected addition of fast bowler Brendan Doggett will then immediately carry on to the Caribbean for a Test series against the West Indies.
Fast bowling spearhead Hazlewood is reportedly nursing a niggle in his shoulder which could prevent him from returning to the Indian Premier League and while he is not anticipated to be in any doubt for the WTC Final, any suggestion of a fitness issue is less than ideal for a man who has had to battle his body in recent years.
Scott Boland will again be vying with Hazlewood for selection in the best XI, while Doggett, who is currently playing county cricket in the UK, will be on standby to be parachuted into the WTC squad if injury was to strike down one of the big four, also including Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
However, by far the greatest intrigue surrounds 19-year-old sensation Konstas and who will open the batting for Australia at Lord’s.
After leaving Konstas out of the XI in Sri Lanka earlier this year based on conditions, there is a strong appetite to get the NSW excitement machine back into the line-up, at least by the West Indies tour where three away Tests against a softer opponent could prove the perfect lead-in to the searing spotlight of opening in an Ashes summer.
One school of thought is selectors should not wait for the Windies and simply inject Konstas straight back onto the big stage of the WTC Final against the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen at the home of cricket.
But complicating that plan is the return from injury of Cameron Green and the teetering Test career of Marnus Labuschagne.
After posting middling scores – punctuated by the odd fighting half century – for some time, Labuschagne appears likely to be given one last shot at saving his Test spot against the country of his birth South Africa, with the WTC Final effectively a grand final for the previous two years where Labuschagne has been a staple.
Should he fail against South Africa, 30-year-old Labuschagne will be in the gun to be dropped for the first Test against the West Indies, despite the fact he does still average 46 at Test level.
As D-Day approaches for Labuschagne, there has been talk around the traps that he could in fact be promoted up to open the batting against South Africa at Lord’s, for the purpose of allowing Green to slot straight back into the line-up.
However, at least on some levels this would seem a head-scratching decision, not only for unnecessarily shifting Labuschagne when he’s playing for his future, but also for putting down a barrier to Konstas’ path of returning to open the batting before the Ashes.
The experiment of promoting Steve Smith to the top of the order was short-lived, so why try and manufacture another opener out of Labuschagne, when Konstas has already announced himself as a match-winner in that position against India – albeit in less than conventional circumstances on Boxing Day at the MCG.
The Australian hierarchy has insisted for some time now that they do not get bogged down in the old traditions of being wedded to a batting order – and will simply focus on picking their six best batsmen, however they best fit in.
It worked in Sri Lanka, with horses for courses selection Josh Inglis – who effectively kept Konstas out of the team – scoring a hundred on debut.
However, selectors have found out the hard way with Smith and Nathan McSweeney that opening, at least in seaming conditions, is a specialist position and Australia will not want to box themselves into a corner with makeshift options in the WTC Final and the Windies, only to get midway through the pressure-cooker of an Ashes series and find they have to recall Konstas.
All-rounder Green is too good to be left on the sidelines for long, even though he’s not yet able to bowl, but Australia will want to get on the ground in the UK and see what his batting form is like up close after he made a hundred on his English county debut, before making four low scores.
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Originally published as The opening batting conundrum for Australian selectors ahead of the WTC final, likely squad to be announced
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