Green has 'all bases covered' amid Australia's WTC final selection debates

Cameron Green's irresistible form in county cricket has him all but locked in for the World Test Championship final as Australia coach Andrew McDonald confirmed that other selection debates, including whether an allrounder is needed against South Africa at Lord's, will dictate where he bats.

Green, 25, will be unavailable to bowl in the WTC final but is virtually assured of returning to the side as a batter only which will cause upheaval to the order with the selectors open to all possibilities with Marnus Labuschagne, Sam Konstas, Beau Webster and Josh Inglis all appearing in a state of flux depending on how the XI is shaped.

Green has not played Test cricket since March 2024 when he batted at No. 4 for Australia in a two-Test series against New Zealand and made a career-high 174 not out in Wellington. He has scored three centuries and an unbeaten 67 across eight innings at No. 5 for Gloucestershire in recent weeks, his first cricket of any form since back surgery last October.

Speaking on SEN radio on Tuesday ahead of leaving for the UK, McDonald confirmed that Steven Smith would remain at No. 4 but said Green was capable of slotting anywhere in the top six.

"He could be three, he could be five, he could be six, he could open," McDonald said. "I think he's got the temperament. He's got the skill set. He's got the defensive play as well. I think the higher up the order you go, your defensive skills are a priority. He's got all bases covered."

Green's inclusion and where he bats will have a significant flow-on effect. Travis Head will return to No. 5 after opening in Sri Lanka, which will leave Usman Khawaja needing yet another opening partner after cycling through Smith, Head, Konstas and Nathan McSweeney across the last three Test series Australia have played.

Webster made an excellent start to Test cricket as Australia's allrounder at No. 6 against India in Sydney and played well in Sri Lanka. But McDonald confirmed that he was not locked in to play at Lord's as the selectors mull over whether they need a fifth bowler for a one-off Test final.

"There's an XI on a board, but it's got some dashes with multiple names in different positions," McDonald said. "Do we need to play the allrounder depending on the conditions that present? That'll then shuffle the batting order. We're quite flexible in our approach to that.

"We've got roughly what we think it might look like. And then clearly, there'll be some decisions as we get to the pointy end. And we've said before that we only make decisions when we need to."

McDonald was then pressed on whether it was a decision between Konstas and Labuschagne to open the batting, if Green batted at No. 3 and Webster remained.

"If you require the allrounder in the conditions that would then lend itself to a decision around the top order, and then if you don't require it, then clearly you've got other options," McDonald said. "And that's not to dismiss the fact that Beau Webster can be a bat only as well. It'll just be how much we prioritise the bowling element of that.

"We've got some players coming out of the IPL. We'll see them in front of us when we get to England and make some assessments on what their capabilities will be for the Test match. At the moment, everyone's tracking well, so I think depending on how you look at it they'll be able to cope with whatever loads are put in front of them."

Inglis' form is also a consideration. He made a century on Test debut as a batter in Sri Lanka and continues to score runs in all forms and all conditions. He could also bat at No. 6 if an allrounder was not selected. Chair of selectors George Bailey had previously suggested that Inglis could open but that would seem unlikely given he has never done that role in first-class cricket and has only batted higher than No. 5 seven times without once reaching 50.

The Marnus Labuschagne question

It does leave Labuschagne vulnerable despite being Australia's incumbent No. 3 since 2019 and averaging 46.76 across 57 Tests with 11 Test centuries. But he has not scored one in his last 29 Test innings and averages just 28.33 across this WTC cycle.

McDonald was asked whether Labuschagne could open in the WTC final given he has never opened the batting in Test cricket but he did not give a definitive answer. Labuschagne has made 0, 4 and 23 in his three innings for Glamorgan over the last fortnight but will not play again before the side is selected for the WTC final.

"You watch the dismissals and it's isolated incidents that you don't know what he's doing in the background, how it looks in the nets, how he's moving," McDonald said. "That'll be the key part of all of it is to see where they're at in front of us and what those sort of last seven days of prep look like to make good decisions for us."

Labuschagne has opened 15 times in first-class cricket, averaging 34.84 with two centuries including one for Glamorgan in May 2024.

The need to settle the opening pair

That record is the same as Konstas'. Despite the hype and his extraordinary start to Test cricket, the 19-year-old averages 34.89 from 30 innings with only two centuries. He has also never played first-class cricket in England although he has been on an Under-19 tour to the UK. McDonald was pleased with how Konstas' offseason had gone after working on some minor technical changes.

"He feels as though they're in a good place at the moment," he said. "The last couple of weeks in Brisbane he's been going well. Tough conditions up there with Dukes balls and overheads and seaming conditions. He's got a great future ahead of him. He's on a journey, I think George Bailey said that, to discover what is the best version of himself and we hope that we can accelerate that across the journey."

McDonald confirmed that the selectors are keen to settle on an opening combination sooner rather than later with the home Ashes in mind later in the year.

"We had some moving parts last summer," McDonald said. "It's not ideal, in particular, for Usman. So in an ideal world we want a combination that you go that's our opening combination for the next period of time."

Hazlewood vs Boland

The other major selection question ahead of the WTC final is a choice between Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland as the third seamer. That decision may also influence the need for an allrounder given Hazlewood's injury worries of late, but he has returned to India to play in the remainder of the IPL before heading to England after some concerns with his shoulder.

"Everything was good when he left here," McDonald said. "He had a good hit out last week on Tuesday and Thursday. Intensity was really, really good.

"I think [RCB have] got a game tonight, their last game at the tournament before the playoffs. If he plays in that, fantastic. If they hold him back for whatever reason for the finals, that's also a bonus to us."