Stuart Broad not happy with Australia’s new-look top order as he believes that they won’t be the same come the Ashes.
Although he supported Sam Konstas to be in the team come November, Stuart Broad is unsure of how Australia can enter the Ashes later this year with the top three presently playing in the West Indies, calling it the most “muddled” combination he has seen from them.
Australia’s pink-ball match against the West Indies in Jamaica, which begins on Saturday, will be their last Test match before the Ashes start in Perth in late November, with the possibility of another selection battle early in the season. England has three more Test matches left against India.
Australia called up Konstas for this series after giving Marnus Labuschagne one game as opener in the World Test Championship final, while Cameron Green has held the No. 3 place since Lord’s after his injury recovery. Although Usman Khawaja showed hopeful signs in Grenada, where he struck a half-century, there are still concerns regarding his form, while Konstas has scored 3, 5, 25, and 0.
“I can’t see this being the same top three for the Ashes,” Broad said on the Grade Cricketer. “I’m trying not to look that far ahead, particularly with English cricket, but the Aussie selectors generally get it right and they can’t be watching the top three currently in the Caribbean going, ‘That top three is amazing’.
“I’m not out of place in thinking it’s the most muddled top three in my lifetime. I’ve grown up with [Matthew] Hayden, [Justin] Langer, [Ricky] Ponting, [David] Warner, [Shane] Watson,” Broad added. “But I think Usman is struggling. Cameron Green at three, he’s a six, isn’t he? Five or six.
“Konstas is young and learning his way. Those pitches in the Caribbean have been quite tricky, so I imagine he’ll get a run. I watched him net before the World Test Championship at Lord’s where he didn’t play, the crunch off the bat that you hear… but you get a couple of low scores and you start to question yourself a little bit. But I think he is there to stay.”
As a player, Broad was known for getting under the skin of the Australians. He responded drearily when questioned about batting coach Michael Di Venuto’s remarks regarding his comfort level with the batting lineup: “Oh, that’s good. Is he a selector?
Di Venuto acknowledged that the team’s batting had not been playing as a unit for a while, but he emphasised how difficult the West Indies conditions are.
“We don’t hide behind the fact that we haven’t functioned as a unit for the last couple of years,” he said. “Take out the Sri Lanka series where we were outstanding in the spinning conditions, apart from that it’s been really hard work and we’ve relied on individual brilliance to get us totals. Batting averages have come down, so too have the bowling averages. The bowlers have had some fun in the last couple of years and that’s just the way it is.”