Labuschagne backs Smith to open, Green in the middle order

Marnus Labuschagne and Australia’s cricket hierarchy appear to be on the same path, suggesting Steve Smith will move up to the opening position vacated by David Warner while all-rounder Cameron Green will return to the Test team.

“If Steve does get the nod from [captain] Pat [Cummins] and the selectors and the coaches, I’ve got no doubt he’ll do a good job [opening] and … Cameron Green, his record at No.4 for Western Australia is amazing,” Labuschagne said in Brisbane on Tuesday ahead of returning to the Brisbane Heat for a one-off BBL match.

Smith’s promotion would allow Green, who averages 54 in the Sheffield Shield, a more comfortable return to Australia’s Test team after losing his place to fellow West Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh during last year’s Ashes tour.

“Obviously that [Sheffield Shield] is not a direct correlation to Test cricket, but I think it’s a pretty confident [indicator] that over a period of time he’s going to be a very good player in that position,” Labuschagne said of Green.

Opener Matt Renshaw, 27, will be selected as an extra batsman in the squad as selectors keep an eye on the future with Usman Khawaja aged 37, although Khawaja has given no indication of retiring from Test cricket. Smith is 34.

Renshaw averages just under 39 in first class cricket and 29 from 14 Test matches, and scored an unbeaten 136 for the Prime Minister’s XI against Pakistan last month.

Scott Boland will remain firmly ensconced as Australia’s extra bowler when a 13-man squad is announced on Wednesday morning to play the West Indies in a two-Test series, beginning in Adelaide next week.

Following the departure of Warner, 37, Green is regarded by Australia’s cricket hierarchy as one of Australia’s best six batsmen, ahead of 31-year-old openers Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft.

The only member of the Test team under 30 is Labuschagne, who is 29. With big series against India and England over the next two summers, the approaching West Indies series and a two-Test tour of New Zealand next month offer the ideal opportunity to reintegrate Green, 24.

He is considered a generational player, but there remain concerns about him moving his almost two-metre frame freely at the crease early in his innings.

Batting in the middle order would give him more freedom to bowl without concerns about being worn down, then having to open the batting after just a 10-minute innings break.

The retirement of Warner has opened a rare vacancy in a team that has returned to the top of the World Test Championship table after their just-completed 3-0 series victory over Pakistan.

“I’m actually happy to go up the top, I’m pretty keen if that’s what they want to do,” Smith told ABC Sport during the third Test.

However, Cummins, who is not a selector, was lukewarm at the prospect of changing a batting order that has been largely responsible for him winning 14 of 24 Tests as captain, with five losses and five draws.

“Obviously Marn [Labuschagne], Smudge [Smith], Trav [Head] and even Marshy [Mitch Marsh] in more recent tours have been pretty impressive at three, four, five and six, and Kez [Alex Carey] at seven. My first instinct probably isn’t to disrupt that, but we’ll work it out,” Cummins said following Australia’s third-Test victory against Pakistan in Sydney.

“I’m pretty happy with his [Smith’s] output at No.4. If he’s desperate to bat up the order, well, maybe we’re open to it. So we’ll work through that, but I feel like there’s enough challenges in Test cricket wherever you bat.”

Smith has never opened the batting in Test cricket, with his best performances coming at No.3, where he averages 67 being exposed to a relatively new ball. At No.4 his average is almost 62 and at No.5 it is 57.

However, Smith’s average over the past year is 39 from 13 Tests and he has gone 13 innings without a century. As a result, his overall career average has dipped from 65 during the 2019 Ashes – when he played the series of his life – to currently 58.

“I think his desire is that he’s excited for a new challenge,” Labuschagne said. “If that motivates him and gives the cricket world Steve Smith for another two years or three years I think that’s a massive win.”

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