New Delhi: Australia are not likely to make any change in their top six batters for the high-octane five-match Test series against India that begins in November, coach Andrew McDonald said though he didn’t rule out a change in their order.
The top two teams in the ICC World Test Championship will engage for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from November 22 in Perth followed by matches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. India have won the last four series at home and away.
After David Warner’s retirement from Tests, long-time No.4 batter Steve Smith was pushed up to open the batting last season but it wasn’t deemed as a permanent move then, which McDonald also said on Wednesday.
Smith struggled to get going in his new role as an opener while Cameron Green took his number four spot, scoring an unbeaten 174 against New Zealand last season.
“While we’ve got an eye to it, we haven’t made any firm decisions around that one,” McDonald told SEN radio.
“We’ve already had some chats in Sydney initially around what we’re thinking for the summer, and that goes right down to depth bowling and all those hypotheticals and ‘what-ifs’ that we always go through.
“Clearly, if we make a shift with Steve Smith, then someone else will have to go to the top. We’ve seen Cameron Green be really successful at number four as well. So that adds layers to the decision-making. But nothing is firm and fixed at the moment.”
Have faith in top six batters
Though Smith failed to fire as opener, his place, alongside Green, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh appears secured at the moment.
“We’ve spoken about that, and we’re still a big believer in the best six batters,” McDonald added.
“We feel as though that the team that finished in New Zealand, should they get a clean run at it and be well prepared, then they would be the best-placed players to fill that, there’s no doubt about that.”
Since the India series is a high-stakes contest, Australia is mulling of resting the Test team players from their preceding white-ball series against Pakistan to prepare them for red-ball cricket in the Sheffield Shield.
The top two teams in the ICC World Test Championship will engage for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from November 22 in Perth followed by matches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
