Joe Burns’ career as a test opener looks over. The thing is, he’s always been a makeshift opener. Back early in his career, he plundered runs as a top/middle order batsman and was elevated to open due to a lack of options like Wade has now, and let’s be honest, until lately he’s done a rather fine job. He made his test debut as a number 6, and that’s where he’d do best in this team I feel. The problem for Burns it’s now harder for him to drop back down the order where he belongs as he’s now seen as an opener, even though he’s not the best opener in the Queensland side.
Queensland have 5 openers in their top 5. It’s almost like an Australian T20 side from a few years back. Street, Burns, Labuschagne, Khawaja and Renshaw all have spent significant time opening the batting. Labuschagne is Australia’s number 3, and Renshaw has really developed as a middle order batsman in limited overs and is starting to bring that to his first class game. Ideally, Queensland’s top order should look like:
- Street
- Khawaja
- Labuschagne
- Burns/Renshaw
- Renshaw/Burns
The problem from what I can see is Khawaja. In 7 innings as a test opener, he averages 96.8 with 2 centuries and 2 fifties. He’s almost the opposite of Burns, having started his first class career as an opener and then dropping down the order. The problem is, it seems Khawaja still thinks he’s the best number 3 in Australia. Even last season when Labuschagne was batting at 3 for Australia, Khawaja was still batting himself at 3 for Queensland. From what I can see, he plays best as an opener, and Burns plays best down the order, so it should be obvious for Khawaja to shuffle up in place of Burns. Khawaja is still good enough to play for Australia, but his best chance will be as an opener, especially now that opening spots are up for grabs.
Ideally, Warner and Pucovski would have opened in the first test, but with both injured it made things difficult for selectors. For this series, I probably would have brought Shaun Marsh back into the squad to open considering his Shield form, opening with Burns, with Head being the one to miss out if Green played. Marsh also averages close to 40 as a test opener, although his record against India is poor and like Khawaja he hasn’t been opening, batting at 3 for Western Australia. Marcus Harris and Sam Whiteman would also be in contention with their strong form in the Sheffield Shield. I’d prefer Whiteman of the two, although I’d also be hesitant to be throwing too many debutants around opening.