Australia are still little bit unsettled in terms of top-order combinations in Tests, admits McDonald

New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) Australia head coach Andrew McDonald admitted that their top-order combinations in Tests are still unsettled despite a 3-0 series win over the West Indies, adding that the initial rounds of the Sheffield Shield will help them see who would be in the frame for the all important Ashes, happening later this year.

Despite Australia winning the series in the Caribbean, there’s still a big debate on whether the opening combination of Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja will be retained for the opening Ashes Test in November. While Khawaja made 117 runs at an average of 19.50, Konstas amassed just 50 runs at an average of 8.33.

"I think it leaves (Konstas) where everyone else is in terms of Shield cricket at the start of the season. We're not going to shy away from the fact that will be big for certain individuals to go about their work, put some scores on the board, and then for us to look at what we need against England.

"It feels as though we're still a little bit unsettled in terms of what our combinations look like at the top of the order with the way that the performances have gone here (against West Indies). There's a lot of cricket still to come to be able to gather that information," said McDonald on SEN Radio.

Marnus Labuschagne, who was dropped for the series against the West Indies, as well as Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Matthew Renshaw will now be on Australia’s radar for sorting their Ashes top-order combination. Nathan McSweeney and Jake Weatherald, who hit fifties in Australia A's first red-ball game against Sri Lanka A in Darwin, could also be in the mix.

"Shield cricket, it feels like it's going to be the same as the start of last year where the microscope will be there for certain individuals and what happens in those games will have a great connection to the first Test in Perth.

"If the performances are at a certain level, I still think that there's always going to be discussion and debate as to what our top order looks like in Australia against England; it's a totally different opposition, they play differently, and the surfaces are different," added McDonald.

He further believed the tour of the West Indies will serve as a huge learning curve for young Konstas. "He'll take away some information that will accelerate his growth forward. The exposure across the series is going to create some great opportunities for him to go away and reflect and start to gather what it looks like for him.

"He's a highly talented player. His skill set over time, I think we will see the real Sam Konstas and at the moment he's juggling with his aggressive nature, he's juggling his technique and the way he really wants to go about playing it."

"But when you've got up and down and seaming wickets, it can force you into those corners a lot quicker than some surfaces that are batter friendly, which we were (initially) expecting to get here.

"We believe he's got more layers than just being that ultra-aggressive, almost what you call a disruptor at the top of the order, and hence why those two Tests (against India last summer) then extended out to the WTC (final) and then some opportunities in the West Indies.

"He's had a small setback here in difficult conditions, and so did the rest of the top order as well. We see him as a player that we'll be using going forward; it will just be a matter of when," concluded McDonald.

--IANS

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