![He's got all bases covered': McDonald throws wildcard into the mix as Aussies face huge WTC opener call]()
The battle between Marnus Labuschagne and Sam Konstas to open in the World Test Championship will come down to team balance and the decision whether or not to include an all-rounder.
And there might even be a third option in the resurgent Cameron Green.
Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald told SEN Radio on Tuesday that “there’s an XI on a board, but it’s got some dashes with names, multiple names in different positions” ahead of next month’s one off match against South Africa in England.
Who opens alongside Usman Khawaja is clearly one of those TBC calls facing McDonald and George Bailey.
Asked if it was a straight shootout between Labuschagne and Konstas to partner Usman Khawaja, McDonald said: “It’ll depend on the all-rounder. So if you require the all-rounder in the conditions, that would then lend itself to a decision around the top order. And then if you don’t require it, then clearly you’ve got other options.”
The coach wouldn’t rule out using Labuschagne in an unfamiliar role at the top of the order despite poor form during a county stint with Glamorgan, where he’s scored just 27 runs in three innings.
He also talked up Green’s ability to “bat anywhere” in the order after his sparkling form in England with three county centuries in his recovery from back surgery.
“He could be five, he could be six, he could open,” said McDonald of Green. “I think he’s got the temperament, he’s got the skill set, he’s got the defensive play as well. I think the higher up the order you go, your defensive skills are a priority and he’s got all bases covered, plays the short ball well.
“You’re not probably going to get a negative word out of the coach around Cameron Green in his batting.”
![GALLE, SRI LANKA - JANUARY 29: Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is seen during day one of the First Test match in the series between Sri Lanka and Australia at Galle International Stadium on January 29, 2025 in Galle, Sri Lanka. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)]()
Marnus Labuschagne in Galle. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
As for Labuschagne he said: “I mean, he’s gone over there, I think it was duck, four and 23, so you never know.
“You watch the dismissals and it’s isolated incident.s You don’t know what he’s doing in the background, how it looks in the nets, how he’s moving. And that’ll be the key part of all of it – to see where they’re at in front of us and what those last seven days of prep look like to make good decisions for us.
“We’ve had that discussion around what it all looks like, what the balance of side is, how we want to play. There’s some teams thrown around before we pick the final 15 as to would we try this in a World Test Championship final? It’s something we haven’t done.
“Would that unsettle what the team actually looks like or do we just bed them down in the positions that are well known to them and us? Those decisions are all in front of us.”
He also spoke of Konstas’ journey to shore up his game after an enigmatic past 12 months of contrasting performances.
“He’s got so many different layers,” said McDonald.
“We’ve seen the game that he can play at that explosive end, which was the entertainment on Boxing Day, which captured a nation and really set up that Test match.
“And then we’ve seen some other innings where he can be quite conservative, a really good defensive player. So he’s discovering what he is as well. And it’s a little bit like Cameron Green, when you get exposed to Test cricket really early, you’re learning on the go and it’s a tough environment to learn in.
“So he’s got a long way to go, there’s no doubt, to be the finished player that he wants to be, and we see he possibly can be.”
Konstas has been part of a training group in Brisbane and McDonald said he had “made some technical changes as well in the winter.
“I think that anytime you get a gap and you want to invest back into your game, there are some technical nuances that you embark upon. So he feels as though they’re in a good place at the moment.
“The last couple of weeks in Brisbane, he’s been going well, tough conditions up there with Dukes balls and overheads and seaming conditions.
“He’s on a journey to discover what is the best version of himself. And we hope that we can accelerate that across the journey.
“I think it’s always a balance. I think an attacking opener is great, but there’s times when you need to be able to absorb, there’s times when you need to be able to put pressure on.
“And we’ve played on some difficult wickets in Australia as well, so that balance of whether you absorb, whether you attack and try to put the bowler off their lines and lengths, that’s the decision you need to make as an opening batter.
“You don’t get any information, you’re the one that’s gathering the information at the top. So there’s a lot of unknowns within that. And the more he gets exposed to that level, I think the better he’ll get.
“I think he will end up a very good player.”
McDonald was asked if fans should expect to see Konstas as opening in the West Indes series, even if he misses out on the WTC final.
“Oh, we’ve got to get past the WTC first. We’ve got a decision there,” McDonald said.
And what about the Ashes?
“In a perfect world, we want to settle down the opening combination. So we want to have a direction around what that looks like. And we want that combination to gel and work at the top of the order,” McDonald said.
“We had some moving parts last summer. It’s not ideal, in particular for Usman. So in an ideal world, we want a combination that you go, that’s our opening combination for the next period of time.
“And then you’ve got the layer of when you go to the subcontinent, can that change? Do you have flexibility around that? Of course you do. But in Australia, we’d love a settled combination and we’re on the journey to getting that.”
