Batting star Labuschagne to be rewarded for big summer

Plenty of Australian stars either tread water or struggled against India but Australia will reward one man who rose to the challenge and another who showed promise.

Marnus Labuschagne has emerged as Australia’s most reliable batsman. Picture: Getty Images

Marnus Labuschagne is set for a six figure pay rise and boom youngster Cameron Green will be rewarded on Australian cricket’s new contract list.

With Australia’s international summer concluding after the T20 series against New Zealand, the selectors will start shaping their 20-man contract list which will be released after next month’s Sheffield Shield final.

Pat Cummins will again be Australia’s top ranked player with a deal between $2-$2.5 million but it has not been an exceptional year for many of his teammates.

The Australian selectors do not publicly release their rankings but is believed Labuschagne, who only two years ago did not even have an Australian contract, is in the bottom half of the top 10 in his first year on the list.

Labuschagne followed up his breakthrough 2019 in style, posting 426 runs at 50 – 21% of Australia’s runs – in the four Test series against India.

He was easily the most dominant batsman of the series and his career record has soared to an average of 60 after 18 Tests.

Cameron Green is yet to take a Test wicket but his batting has hit another level

He kept going forward in a year when most Australian players went backwards or stagnated and is now almost certain to feature in the top five on the list.

The pecking order behind Cummins will be interesting with Steve Smith and David Warner, despite his injury-marred summers, likely to remain prominent.

All-rounder Green made a solid start to his Test career against India despite not taking a wicket.

His composure and solid technique were evident in a string of useful scores though he made just one half century.

Greg Chappell’s claim that Green was the best young talent he had seen since Ricky Ponting has been born out with his first class average climbing to 59 after 27 matches.

Playing Test cricket seems to have taken his game to a new level and he has scores of 168 not out, 144 and 251 for Western Australia since the Test series.

Green is likely to rank in the low teens on the contract list by an Australian panel excited by his potential.

With tours of Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan looming next year Australia will relish having him available to bat at six and perhaps play as a third seamer.