Marnus Leans In

GH on the predicaments of batting

Playing for the country of his adoption against the country of his birth, at a ground where he first presented serious Test credentials, this World Test Championship final could hardly be more pregnant for Marnus Labuschagne. In that way things have of aligning, it turns out he may also be playing for his Test future.

At Lord’s, Labuschagne is to open Australia’s batting for the first time - a promotion born both of team and individual necessity, for had he been churning out runs at number three there would have been an argument for his remaining there. Failure would extend his fallow phase to two years - he last made a Test hundred in the Ashes at Old Trafford. Three Tests against the less taxing opposition of West Indies would then loom as an excellent pre-Ashes opportunity to bed in Sam Konstas, Australian batting’s heir presumptive, as Labuschagne enters his thirty-second year.