“I can’t see this being the same top three for the Ashes,” Stuart Broad says of the Khawaja-Konstas-Green combination currently in action in the West Indies
Andrew McGlashan10-Jul-20250:31
Konstas chops on for a duck
Stuart Broad is wondering how Australia can go into the Ashes later this year with the top three currently on show in the West Indies, terming it the most “muddled” combination he has seen from them, although he backed Sam Konstas to be in the side come November.While England have three more Tests to play against India, Australia’s pink-ball outing against West Indies in Jamaica, which starts on Saturday, will be their final Test before the Ashes begins in Perth in late November with the likelihood of another selection race early in the season.Having given Marnus Labuschagne one match as opener in the World Test Championship final, Australia recalled Konstas for this series and Cameron Green has had the No. 3 spot since Lord’s following his return from injury. Konstas has made scores of 3, 5, 25 and 0, while there are continuing questions about Usman Khawaja’s form, although there were encouraging signs from Green in Grenada, where he scored a half-century.Related
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“I can’t see this being the same top three for the Ashes,” Broad said on the . “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.”Getting under the skin of the Australians was a trademark for Broad as a player, and when asked about the comments batting coach Michael Di Venuto had made about being comfortable with the batting line-up, said dryly: “Oh, that’s good… is he a selector?”However, di Venuto conceded the team’s batting had not functioned collectively for a period of time, but he reiterated the challenging nature of the conditions in the West Indies.”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.”