Australia coach Andrew McDonald backs Usman Khawaja as microscope put on Marnus Labuschagne

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has thrown his support behind veteran sar Usman Khawaja for the Ashes, but Marnus Labuschagne appears highly doubtful to survive for the next Test.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has thrown his support behind ageing warrior Usman Khawaja for the Ashes, but Marnus Labuschagne appears highly doubtful to survive for the next Test.

Selectors will add an extra batsman to their squad for the tour of the West Indies starting next week if Steve Smith is ruled out of the first Test, which captain Pat Cummins admitted is likely.

Opener Sam Konstas is poised to come into the team to face the Windies at the expense of Labuschagne – and the smart money as it stands now would be on the 19-year-old opening alongside Khawaja come the first Test in Perth.

“We’ve had a bit of musical chairs there, so now might be the time,” McDonald said when asked about Konstas.

Along with Konstas, Josh Inglis – who made a century on debut in Sri Lanka – also firms as a likely call-up to Australia’s XI in the Windies if Smith is out.

McDonald conceded Cameron Green’s best batting position would also have to be discussed after he lasted just five balls across two innings against South Africa’s spearhead Kagiso Rabada batting in the crucial No.3 spot.

Sam Konstas looks set to return to Australia’s XI against the West Indies. Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP

The coach was not shirking away from the fact the future of his top order is suddenly shrouded in uncertainty following the WTC Final collapse and concedes the Sheffield Shield rounds preceding the Ashes are now poised to become a shootout for the key batting positions to face England, with what happens in the West Indies perhaps less relevant.

“Does the West Indies have a direct connection to the Ashes, a Perth Test match? I’d say it has little,” McDonald said.

“But the people who are on that journey are the right people at this stage.

“We’ve got Shield cricket leading into (the Ashes) also so probably the direct connection to the Ashes would potentially be the first few Shield games. More likely than the West Indies, in my opinion.”

The one key pillar McDonald did endorse was his unshaken faith that 38-year-old Khawaja is the man to anchor Australia at the top of the order in the Ashes, declaring he “doesn’t see an end date”.

“Yeah,” McDonald said when asked whether Australia is backing Khawaja in the same way they did David Warner in the twilight of his Test career.

“I think 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, 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 a hundred last year so I think he’s got plenty of runs left in him.

“It’ll come down to his inner drive and the way he prepares. And it was a bit the same with Davey (Warner) as well.

“The way he moved, we saw some positives in that. We knew that the runs were around the corner and I think from memory he (Warner) was the leading run scorer against Pakistan in his last series for Australia.

“We feel as though Usman has a big part to play.”

Usman Khawaja has got Andrew McDonald’s backing despite two low scores. Picture: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Smith’s compound fracture has left the door ever so slightly ajar for Labuschagne to survive the selection axe again, but the most likely scenario is the 30-year-old has played his last Test for the time being.

McDonald stood by the rationale for why selectors picked Labuschagne over Konstas for the WTC at Lord’s, but did not dismiss suggestions that the struggling right-hander, who hasn’t made a hundred for two years, could benefit from time outside the team.

“Yeah definitely I think most players across their journey get dropped at some point in time. And time in the middle is important. He had a couple of opportunities at county level, he gets games for Queensland, so he’s still dipping in and out of international cricket back to domestic cricket,” McDonald said.

“I think he had a positive week here where he worked on the right things and had a great prep and sometimes a great prep is never a key indicator of performance. So you can have a bad prep and still perform but he was doing a lot right and there’s no harder worker than Marnus.

“Now it’s really just about the returns. And at the moment as I said he’d be disappointed. And he’s not the only one who would be disappointed in that room and I don’t want to focus on just the batting also.

“I think the bowling had some areas of the game where we let the tempo of the game shift on day three and would that have looked differently if we had more overs with the second new ball? Who knows.”

McDonald said even if Labuschagne is dropped in the West Indies, Australian cricket needs him to bounce back.

“He’s a big part of the future of the team. Anyone who averages 45, 46 in Test cricket at that age is important,” he said.

“We’ve got older players there that are closer to the end than the start. We’ve got some younger players who are coming in. (With 60 odd Test matches at his age) he’s really important.

“If he can get his game in good order for the next four or five years he can underpin that batting order. But at the moment he’ll be disappointed with the returns. He’s missed out on big scores.

“We’re confident he can return to his best, hence why we keep picking him, and it’s at what point do we stop picking him.”

One change to the squad has already been forced - with Australia confirming on Sunday night that fast bowler Brendan Doggett has picked up a minor hip injury and will be replaced with Sean Abbott.

It’s a blow to Doggett who would have been considered an outside chance to debut in the Caribbean, but it presents long-time warrior Abbott that chance after so many years being on the fringes of this all-star fast bowling attack.

Originally published as Australia coach Andrew McDonald backs Usman Khawaja as microscope put on Marnus Labuschagne