Labuschagne to partner with Khawaja as Australia’s openers in WTC final at Lord’s

LONDON (AP) — Marnus Labuschagne has moved one place up the batting order to open with Usman Khawaja for Australia in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s from Wednesday.

Labuschagne’s place in the team was in doubt after a lean 2023-25 WTC cycle — average 28.33 runs — but he was given another shot on Tuesday by Australia’s failure to find a permanent replacement at opener for David Warner, who retired from tests in January 2024. Labuschagne will open in a test for only the second time in nine years.

“It’s one spot up really. It’s not too different to batting three,” captain Pat Cummins said. ”Marnus has done well here at Lord’s (average 45.33) and in England in general (average 39.36).

“Opening the batting can be tough, but it can also be sometimes the best time to bat, before the Dukes ball actually starts swinging. There’s an opportunity to score there, so just keeping that ball in tow I think is going to mean something.”

The 19-year-old specialist opener Sam Konstas was left out and Travis Head, preferred in Sri Lanka in February, will drop back to No. 5 in the order. Konstas was disappointed, Cummins said.

“Realistically, he’s really young, he’s got a long career ahead of him,” he added.

Fit-again Josh Hazlewood was picked ahead of the unlucky Scott Boland in the pace attack. Boland replaced an injured Hazlewood for the 2023 final and starred as Australia beat India by 209 runs at the Oval.

Nine of that 11 will play consecutive WTC finals.

Cameron Green will bat at No. 3 in his first test since lower spine surgery in October sidelined him for six months, and at No. 6 the two-meter-tall allrounder Beau Webster, who debuted in January against India.

Ngidi ahead of Paterson

South Africa gave Lungi Ngidi’s experience the edge over Dane Paterson as the third seamer.

Ngidi hasn’t played a test since August but 19 tests and 55 wickets, including Joe Root’s at Lord’s in 2022, put him in the pace attack with Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.

Paterson, more deceptive than fast, earned five-fors in his last two tests against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in December and played at Lord’s three times in the last two months for Middlesex in the English County Championship second division but that wasn’t enough.

“Probably one of the tougher decisions that has been made. We see what Dane Paterson did for us to the end of last season,” captain Temba Bavuma said.

“But it was more from a tactical point of view. Probably a little bit more pace from Lungi, guess he’s a bit taller as well (1.93 meters to 1.75). Lungi also has a better record, not taking away anything from Patto. But I think he (Ngidi) will complement that bowling attack a little more. We have a guy like (Wiaan) Mulder, who can give us something similar like Patto.”

Mulder was chosen to bat at No. 3 ahead of Tony de Zorzi, who has more runs but hasn’t bowled in a test. Mulder’s handy medium pace has taken 30 wickets in 18 matches.

“It’s about giving him a lot more confidence, keep backing him and just allowing him to do what he does best,” Bavuma said of Mulder. “He has an opportunity in a pressure situation, but I think he can take comfort from the fact that the guys are backing him. We just want him to play his game.”

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Lineups:

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verrynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket