Cummins backs Labuschagne to come good at Lord's

Int'l Cricket Council

a day ago

Pat Cummins has backed 'known entity' Marnus Labuschagne to come good in the World Test Championship Final after Australia opted to put their faith in experience.
The 30-year-old has won the selection battle with teenager Sam Konstas and will move up to open alongside Usman Khawaja against South Africa at Lord's, with Cameron Green to bat at three.
Labuschagne has not been his usual prolific self in this WTC cycle, averaging 28.33, but knows what it takes to score runs on English soil – a factor which proved crucial in the decision to pick him.
'He's a known quantity, our selectors would rather give someone an extra little run than pull the pin too early,' Cummins said.
'He has played some crucial knocks in getting us here, his batting was right up there with the difference at the MCG (scores of 72 and 70 in the Boxing Day Test against India).
'Him, Sam and Josh Inglis have all trained well but the selectors went with Marnus. He's done well in England in the past and here at Lord's.
'We love when they (openers) are busy and putting pressure back on the bowlers. That's our message here to Marnus.
'Opening the batting can be tough, but it can also be sometimes the best time to bat here before the Dukes ball actually starts swinging. There's runs to be scored there. Keeping that positive intent, is when he is batting at his best.'
Australia's other 50/50 call lay in their seam attack, with Josh Hazlewood given the nod over Scott Boland to join Cummins, Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Beau Webster in a fearsome pace quartet to complement the spin of Nathan Lyon.
'There are some guys where you genuinely say you've done nothing wrong, don't change a thing, and that is the case with Scott,' Cummins said.
'There's a lot of Test cricket in the next couple of years and by having a squad of fast bowlers, hopefully we can all extend our careers by an extra couple of years. He is very unfortunate to miss out but we know how good Josh Hazlewood is. The message to him (Boland) is don't feel like you're running out of time.
'In Sydney, Beau (Webster) was really effective in seaming conditions. He takes key breakthroughs and can also hold up an end.
'He has done brilliantly with the bat in his three Tests and his bowling will be pretty crucial this week.'
Australia arrive at Lord's as reigning World Test champions and are serial winners when it comes to ICC major events, in contrast to their opponents this week.
Cummins, who is six wickets away from becoming the fourth-fastest Australian to reach 300 Test wickets, behind only Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee, believes that big-match knowhow could come to the fore in a one-off showpiece scenario.
'Just about everyone in the team has been in a final before and when you have those experiences, you want more of it,' he said. 'When the going gets tough, you embrace that, you want to be the matchwinner.
'The guys have excitement and they just want to get out there. There's no fear of failure, just excitement to get going.
'This is a trophy we have spoken about a lot in the past couple of years, we wanted to be in this final.
'Personally, the World Cup in 2023 will be hard to beat as a moment but this is a good one. Test cricket is my favourite format, you have to win in all conditions against all Test-playing nations to make it here and it is really special to be in the final.
'If we can retain that mace, that is a pretty awesome thing for this team.'
Australia XI to face South Africa in the World Test Championship Final: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
ENDS