What's He On About? Cricket Podcast · Charlie Harden

Who Should Open For Australia In The Ashes 2025/26?

·23 min·1 clip

Australia have an unsettled top three, and Marnus Labuschagne has made three hundreds in four innings.

Australia's top three remain unsettled. Marnus Labuschagne's three hundreds in four innings to start the Australian domestic season turn the second opening spot into the main pressure point. The episode begins with Usman Khawaja because he still seems to hold the job for now, even as the questions around him keep building. His record is set out first: an average of 44 across more than 6,000 Test runs, along with that 232 against Sri Lanka earlier this year. The show stays with Khawaja long enough to bring in his 48 average in Australia and the 195 not out against South Africa at the start of 2023. It then notes that he has not made a home hundred for almost three years. The old spin-versus-pace question returns too. Marcus Harris comes next and the tone shifts into a direct form check. He has more than 1,000 runs for Lancashire in the County Championship and an average over 60 in the English summer. He has added to that in the Sheffield Shield and is close to 2,000 first-class runs in the last calendar year. The catch is that he has not been opening much, because Lancashire have used him at four and three fairly often. Recent matches also brought a duck, then 38, and a 61 plus a Sheffield Shield round-one outing. His Test figures are then laid out: 607 runs at 25, a high score of 79 against India, and a 76 against England. His 2019 Tests in England were poor, with 58 runs at 19 across three matches. Matt Renshaw follows, and the mood stays open despite the mixed record. He has 624 runs in the last calendar year at 35. He was averaging over 50 in the Australian domestic List A competition, and that form earned him a place in the ODI squad for India. His Test career gets a quick recap too, with 645 runs at 29 and a high score of 184 against Pakistan in 2017. The flat spell in India in 2023 comes up as well, with three scores of 0, 2 and 2, plus a duck on his return. The final squeeze is between Mitchell Marsh and Jake Wetherald, with Marsh framed through his white-ball opener path and Wetherald through his Tasmania run. The closing call is Khawaja and Marsh, on the logic that England would hate that top order and Australia would be in very good hands.

As heard by us

Khawaja stays under the microscope, with Marsh shaping the sharpest opening case.

Australia's unsettled top three is handled with clear, evidence-led focus, using Marnus Labuschagne's three hundreds in four innings as the anchor and putting Usman Khawaja's place under scrutiny from the start.

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Why you'd press play

Australia's second opening spot gets the full stat sweep, with Marsh and Wetherald in the mix.

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