Tim Paine is standing by struggling openers Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne. He doesn’t believe you can just give up on players after one bad Test. He thinks they’ll come good during the West Indies tour starting June 25.
Both Khawaja and Labuschagne had a tough time in the World Test Championship final 2025 against South Africa, with Khawaja scoring 0 and 6 and Labuschagne 17 and 20 which contributed to Australia’s loss.
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Labuschagne was moved to the opening spot, while Cameron Green went third and Steve Smith batted fourth. Their poor performance has raised questions about the batting order before the three-Test series against the West Indies especially with young opener Sam Konstas looking good in his debut against India.
Khawaja had a bad game but was the top scorer for Australia in the WTC cycle with 1,428 runs including two centuries and six fifties. Labuschagne struggled with 974 runs at 27.82 which dropped his overall average to 46.19. At 38 Khawaja is getting older, 39 in December during the home Ashes series.
Paine is calm about the situation, “They’re good players, they’re world class”. With Steve Smith out due to a finger injury Konstas will come in and Labuschagne will move down the order. Paine sees both players stepping up in the West Indies and being crucial for the Ashes.
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He also pointed out we rush to replace players. He mentioned David Warner who was written off before he retired and hasn’t been replaced since. You can’t just drop guys like Uz and Marnus after one bad game. They’re key to the team for at least the next year, he said. Great players are hard to find.
