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Lehmann must make the bold calls

Darren Lehmann has escaped much of the blame so far - how long will this continue? (AP Photo/Rui Vieira/PA)
Roar Pro
30th July, 2013
6

Australian coach Darren Lehmann has admitted that he is not afraid to shake up his line-up for the third Test at Old Trafford in an effort to prevent a worrying trend of middle-order batting collapses.

Following a tour match against Sussex this week, Lehmann said fringe players like Ed Cowan (66 and 77 not out) and Phil Hughes (84 and 38) had not necessarily done enough to warrant selection.

They appear to be the two outsiders fighting for Chris Rogers’ place at the top of the order.

David Warner’s 193 for Australia A, Steve Smith’s unbeaten 102 in the tour match, and Usman Khawaja’s performance in the second innings at Lord’s surely secures their positions.

However, Lehmann was quick to warn that no-one was a certainty.

“Whoever we pick is ready and able to have an impact,” he said.

“We have done enough talking full stop, we have to score some runs. We can formulate an attack to get 20 wickets but we need to make runs. We’d love to keep the same six bats all the time and that may happen in this Test match, I don’t know.”

Selectors face some difficult decisions, but the top six should look like this: Watson, Rogers, Khawaja, Warner, Clarke and Smith. While Rogers has struggled so far, he is a much better fit at the top of the order than Warner because of his placid style.

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The swashbuckling combination of Watson and Warner would most likely prove to be a disastrous opening pairing for Australia.

Though Khawaja has yet to prove himself at international level, he is an elegant player with a technique more suited to the English conditions than someone like Hughes.

Captain Michael Clarke’s best position is clearly at number five, where he averages 63. So that just leaves Smith, who’s already done enough with bat and ball to justify his selection until at least the end of the series.

In a must-win Test, Australia’s batsmen need to perform now or they can expect Lehmann to ring further changes.

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