Cricket Australia’s (CA) chief selector George Bailey has hinted that Travis Head may come into the team directly that too at the top of the order. There are chances that Marnus Labuschagne would be removed from the lineup. Marnus Labuschagne‘s form has been topsy-turvy in ODI WC 2023.
The batting duo of Steve Smith & Marnus Labuschagne can give headaches to the opposition team. Both of them can provide stability to the team in the middle overs phase and are quite flawless. CA will have to take a tough call if they wants to keep the winning run continued in the championship.
Marnus Labuschagne will make way for Travis Head- Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor was having an interaction with World Wide of Sports. Mark Taylor believes that the inclusion of Travis Head in place of Marnus Labuschagne could upset the balance of the side. Travis Head is set to recover from the fractured hand is expected to play later in the tournament.
“I think (selector) George Bailey’s already shown his hand that they’re going to play him (Head) at the top of the order which in a way is an aggressive move but the one concern Australia will have is that Labuschagne I think will make way. More than likely he’ll make way, but we’re leaving out someone like Labuschagne who’s an out and out batter which if you look at the games we won leading into this tournament, Labuschagne played well,” said Mark Taylor.
“Sometimes you need that in one-day cricket, if there’s a bit of spin or seam, you need someone who can bat long, who can bat time. Look at (New Zealand’s) Daryl Mitchell (against India), if they’d had a decent hitter at the end they’d have made 300 and it would’ve been a very interesting game of cricket, you need someone who can bat through,” he added.
It’s not always easy to swing hard- Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor was concerned about the brand of cricket which Australia have applied which is quite fearless. Mark Taylor gave the example of the match against Pakistan when Aussies scored only 7 runs per over in the last 16 overs despite having all the fire power in the Armory.
“At the moment my fear for Australia is they want to go and go hard which is the way of cricket these days but you don’t want to leave too much to do for your tail at the end of the game. I still think it’s an easier game to play when one of your top four makes a score of a hundred or better,” said Mark Taylor.
“The other day when Australia put on 259 for the first wicket, you don’t need it but even then everyone goes out and tries to score 12 an over and we only scored seven an over off the last 16 overs because everyone’s swinging hard. But it’s not always easy to swing hard, sometimes you need to play cricket shots,” he added.