Marcus Harris deserves this chance at Usman Khawaja's expense

Form is Temporary, Class is Permanent. Khawaja suffers from the Mark Waugh syndrome, the way he plays makes people think he's just cruising through. While Khawja has only averaged 20 this series, and hasn't been at his best, surely his FC Career and His Test Career indicates that he's only a good innings away from a big score...... While the Bancrofts, Harris & Wade's Career indicates significant inconsistency and extended periods of poor form. This was a bad a decision, and will be papered over by the fact Steve Smith is a just an absolute FREAK.

I guess they could've.

Khawaja shouldn't feel hard done by. Averaging 20 from 6 innings in this series allowed his position to be anything but secure. That being said, how is Warner's spot not even less secure and why is nothing being spoken about it? What this series has done is clearly display how frail pour batting is when the ball moves around, yet again. Apart from Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, nobody has had consistent answers to the swinging ball. But hey, the modern approach to batting is progress... apparently.

Those good old soft hands eh?

Warner's looking great. Let's give him a 5th bite at the cherry in the next Test.

I guess we won't find out the thinking behind Khawaja's batting 3 when he's done such a good job as an opener till his career's over, Chris. I asgree these others might be fighting for the same positions but again, none have shown what it takes to play Test cricket, ie consistency.

UK lost it for me with his dismissal in the 2nd innings in last test when we really needed him to grind it out. He was looking good then just wafted at a ball way outside off with his front foot nowhere near the ball. He does this too often for a consistent top order batsmen and is unlikely to change now. I’ve noticed he has never commented on tightening up his concentration – more that he works as hard as anyone and a good innings is just around the corner. So maybe he sees no reason to change and the selectors have had enough

I think the selectors are looking at more than just UK’s averages but at how he has made runs, the circumstances and how he is dismissed as well as whether he can influence a game as #3. On these measures, despite how elegant he looks , unfortunately UK has consistently failed with the odd exception. People compare him to mark waugh aesthetically but the difference is MW has played had far more match changing/turning innings. I think selectors are sick of waiting for UK to deliver and are willing to give Harris a go. Harris may be just as loose, lacking concentration and inconsistent in the field but he hasn’t quite proven himself incapable of lifting whereas UK has had many chances and not delivered. It’s been so frustrating watching and waiting for UK to deliver a key innings when under the pump - sometimes he gets through to 30-40 then throws it away with a soft waft.

Hard to feel sympathy for Khawaja, his away average is worse than Shaun Marsh. How long do you wait for Khawaja and Warner to come good? Their form overseas, against top quality opponents is dreadful. Problem is we always bring these guys back against the weak teams at home, they boost their averages and we are in the same situation next tough away tour.

Especially in England where there's more sideways movement, opening the batting is often about making sure the one that moves does beat the bat and you don't follow it and get the edge. And the other thing is playing with soft hands in ways that make lots of the edges go straight to ground even when it does get an edge.

I'd be very surprised if he did that. I would think he'd want to come back to Australia and see if he can regain some form back here before considering retiring from test cricket. He's worked too hard to get back after the 12 month ban to throw in the towel at this point.

The fact that Khawaja was selected specifically to open in the UAE and then again picked as an opener in the fourth test against India after Finch was dropped does suggest the selectors might be willing to consider him as an opener outright, not just when picking a team from the limited selection of a touring squad. However, the fact that they quickly reverted back to two other openers and Khawaja at 3 for the first test against India, despite his success opening in the UAE, and then again for the first test against Sri Lanka, after just one test in the opening position, does give the feeling that they don't really consider him as more than a fill-in opener, and the likes of Harris, Bancroft, Burns and Renshaw are the more likely players to be fighting for the opening positions. I think it could be pretty hard for Khawaja to come back from here.

Warner didn't have a clue against the seaming ball. Any one of those 20 misses could have easily been nicked.

Warner is an opening batsman who averages in the high 40's in test cricket with 21 test hundreds. Of course he's going to get more of a chance. I do think it would help Warner to have an opening partner given more of a chance too. Warner's career figures have clearly not been as good in the years since Chris Rogers retired. In that time he's had a constant flow of different opening partners, and I'm sure that's not been helpful for him either. Hopefully both Warner and Harris can pile up some big runs tonight.

I think sometimes it comes down to not just how many runs they score, but how they look doing it. Did they look like they were batting okay and then either just got a good ball or had a brain explosion, or did they look like they had no idea where their next run was coming from? Bancroft unfortunately looked more like the latter. Hence getting dropped after two games. But I do agree, when it comes to the opening position, they need to pick the player they think is the best option and give them a good run. However, if you come to a single crunch game at the end of a series and while you might feel on player is a better long term option, but might not be the best short term option, then you might decide to make the call for that test.

Leave Eddie the C out of it!

I reckon there are whispers, but Warner deserves more of a chance. He’ll probably fill his boots in Australia next summer and then disappoint again on his next overseas tour. And repeat.

Yeah mate but Warnie doesn't like Starcy, that's all that matters.

Playing and missing isn't a problem, unless it goes thru the gate! Playing and edging is a problem. Playing the wrong shot is a problem. Stokes has played and missed a fair bit this summer, but he's in a good head space and survived early overs to capitalise. So has Labuschagne in the last couple of Tests. Old Test bats say nobody mentions the similarities between a play and miss and a scoring shot when the batsman just throws his hands at it covering the movement. All the drama is about the ball missing the edge, but if the batsman has the mental skills to ride it out, he can then capitalise. Mental pressure has out of form players trying a reverse sweep, or sking a slog sweep when knocking a single builds an innings and pressure on the bowler to try something instead of being patient. The same thing happened to our bowlers in the Pommy run chase. They bowled at the top of off with rhythm in the first innings and the plays and misses resulted in edges, they tired and panicked in the second and tried bowling wicket balls and a calm Stokes had them bowling to his strength.

By your logic, Harris gets this Test and if he fails they change for the 5th Test to............