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Bharat: Are Australia hurting enough from WTC final loss?
Emily Benammar • June 24th, 2025 2:26 pm
Cricket fans have been told to expect the unexpected as Australia prepare for their three Tests against the West Indies with a variety of batting combinations to be trialled, according to Bharat Sundaresan.
Less than two weeks after suffering a five-wicket defeat to South Africa in the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s, Australian selectors made the call to drop Marnus Labuschagne in Grenada where Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja are expected to open.
Steve Smith will sit out at least the opening Test after sustaining a compound dislocation to his right pinkie finger at Lord’s.
Amid plenty of discussion about Australia’s top order failing to come produce the goods against the Proteas, much has been made of the batting order and who will slot where.
“There are some new faces but I think it will be a fun series,” SEN Cricket expert Sundaresan told Gerard Whateley.
“This Test has the vibe of not really being sure what will happen. Australia should cruise through but because of the batting permutations and combinations and new players, this is not as straightforward as people might think.
“We don’t know the batting line-up; we’re not 100% sure (but) I think they might stick with Green at 3 then maybe Inglis at 4.
“I proposed to Travis Head he could bat at 4 and allow Inglis and Webster at 5 and 6, he’s a senior statesman so that remains to be seen but the way Green has faced the new ball, he has become the new Steve Smith. He starts and ends every session.
"I’ve seen him face the new ball quite a bit so that tells me they will stick with him at 3 and let everyone else slot into their positions.
“They will look at Inglis as the versatile option, but my inkling is Green at three then Head/Inglis next.
“Windies are going to come hard at the Aussies. It’s not straight forward, the West Indies have not been walkovers for anyone in recent years.
Asked how he thought the Australian side had been looking in the Caribbean since their defeat to South Africa, Sundaresan, who has travelled with the team, said to the naked eye, fans should be forgiven for thinking they are not hurting enough from the loss.
“They didn’t look like a team smarting from defeat,” he said. I think it comes down from Cummins and how he leads the team but intensity wise it’s there.
“On the face of it, they don’t look like a team that’s charged up and thinking they just lost this enormous game and wanting to prove their doubters wrong.
“Head said yesterday ‘we do care, but we also have to move on’, it’s the way the schedule is.
“Marnus has been grinding away. The way Marnus is feeling about his game and where it needs to be. He is in a good space, and he can’t wait to get back.
“Konstas is itching to get out there. There's something very special about this kid. Everything about him, he is the most charming young man.
“And Cam Green – hopefully these are the conditions he needs to get back in.”
SCHEDULE
- West Indies v Australia June 26-30 from midnight (AEST)
- West Indies v Australia July 4-8 from midnight (AEST)
- West Indies v Australia July 13-17 from 4:30am AEST
