Australia head coach backs Khawaja and Labuschagne after Lord's heartbreak

Australia caput coach, Andrew McDonald, has backed aged defender Usman Khawaja and retired of signifier Marnus Labuschagne aft they failed to support their World Test Championship (WTC) astatine Lord's against South Africa. Labuschagne opened successful the WTC last against South Africa and scored 17 and 22 successful some the innings. “He’s a large portion of the aboriginal of the team. Anyone that averages 45 oregon 46 successful Test cricket astatine that property is important,” McDonald was quoted by Fox Cricket.“We’ve got older players who are person to the extremity than the start. We’ve got immoderate younger players that are coming in, and you decidedly privation those guys that have, I think, 60-odd Test matches.

“If helium tin get his crippled successful bully bid for the adjacent 4 oregon 5 years, helium tin underpin that batting order.

But astatine the moment, he’d beryllium disappointed with the returns.“He’s missed retired connected large scores. He threatened astatine the MCG (when he) got a brace of 70s, and, you know, if they had been a brace of hundreds, the speech shifts arsenic well.“But we’re assured that helium could instrumentality to his champion and hence (that is) wherefore we support picking him. It is astatine what constituent bash we halt picking him?”

On 39-year-old Khawaja, McDonald said: "He's connected contract, he's an important player."

"He gives america stableness astatine his champion astatine the top. And we similar to look astatine our players astatine their best."No doubt, a mates of failures present and radical past commencement to speech astir possibly it's the end. I don't spot an extremity day with the mode he's training, the mode he's preparing, the mode he's moving. He went backmost to Shield cricket, got 100 past [season]. So I deliberation he's got plentifulness of runs near successful him. It'll travel down to his interior thrust and the mode helium prepares."It was a spot the aforesaid with Davey arsenic well. The mode helium moved, we saw immoderate positives successful that. We knew that the runs were astir the corner. We consciousness arsenic though Usman's got a large portion to play."