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Despite having a nice outing on the field and securing a 3-0 victory against West Indies, the Australian Test side is looming with a crisis of a stable opening pair. The bowling unit dominated by dismissing West Indies on their lowest test score of 27 runs, but the batting unit specially the openers failed to create an impact. With the English opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett appearing in good form in the ongoing Test series against India, many former players and experts of the game consider opening as a looming issue for Australia amid the Ashes 2025 approaching.
Former captain Ricky Ponting is among the ones concerned. Ponting named three players he believes are currently in line to open for Australia in the Ashes, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, and Cameroon Green. He firmly backed Sam Konstas despite his lack of form and how he continues to struggle since his debut fifty against India. “The batters that they’re talking about in the last couple of weeks in particular have been Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja, and then there was some talk about Cameron Green, whether he’s a long-term number three or not,” the former Australian cricketer said on the ICC Review.
“I read a really interesting piece by Robert Craddock about how they tried to protect Sam from the Sri Lanka tour, thinking the Caribbean would be easier. But it turned out the pitches in Sri Lanka were better for batting and the West Indies surfaces were tough,” Ponting further explained.
Australia is yet to find a stable opener in Tests after retirement of David Warner
“It’s trial and error until you actually find the exact right remedy that works for you and the only way you can do that is by being out in the middle and spending some time there,” said Ponting while advising Konstas. The opening batting of Australia is yet to find stability post the retirement of David Warner.
They did try their hand with Nathan Mcsweeney during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but quickly moved on to Sam Konstas. Apart from his first innings fifty in Melbourne, Sam Konstas could not deliver in any of the innings at the international stage, averaging just 16.30 in his first ten test innings, including the Test series against West Indies.
