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'Nightmare': Ian Healy’s warning to struggling Aussie batsmen
Lachlan Geleit • June 18th, 2025 9:00 am
Former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy has issued a warning to struggling batsmen in the Aussie Test team.
Australia’s issue was without doubt their top order in the five-wicket World Test Championship loss to South Africa at Lords, with Usman Khawaja (0 & 6), Marnus Labuschagne (17 & 22) and Cameron Green (4 & 0) failing to fire.
It’s been the nation’s area of concern in the longest format for some time now and there’s no doubt Labuschagne, who hasn’t scored a ton in his last 16 Tests, and Khawaja, who turns 39 in December, aren’t exactly flying ahead of a home Ashes summer.
Healy warned that if a player like Khawaja is hoping for the Ashes to be a farewell tour, that things could quickly turn into a nightmare if he’s not right on top of both his energy level and technique.
“If you limp to the end of your career and the last series you're hanging out for is the Ashes, it's going to be a nightmare,” Healy said on SENQ Breakfast.
“England are coming. They're coming for us big time. They're picking the right style of bowler and they’re looking at batsmen who can prosper in Australian conditions.
“They are going so specific (with selection) that they are going to be all over us.
“If you're not right on the top of your energy levels and your technique - which we're not at the moment – you’re going to get hurt.
“In your last series if you’re not there, if you thought it was going to be fun, it’s a nightmare.”
With the Ashes beginning in late November, Healy thinks the discussion has to be whether those issues are fixed over the upcoming three-Test tour of the Wett Indies or whether the struggling players are replaced now in the XI.
“We're less than 6 months from this big series we're supposed to be building towards, and the issues haven’t been fixed,” Healy said.
“So, do we fix them now? Or do we replace them? It's a bit of an unknown who we're going to replace them with.
“That is the discussion, that’s for sure.”
The first Test between West Indies and Australia begins in Barbados on June 26.
