"We're leaving out someone who's an out and out batter"- Mark Taylor expresses concerns on the possible exclusion of Marnus Labuschagne
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor expressed concerns despite the return of attacking batter Travis Head due to the possible axing of Marnus Labuschagne from the squad.
Head recently arrived in India after missing Australia's first four games of the 2023 World Cup with a broken hand sustained in the South African tour. With David Warner and Mitchell Marsh being invoked in a match-winning 259-run opening partnership in their latest win over Pakistan, the 29-year-old is likely to replace Labuschagne in the batting order.
Speaking to the World Wide of Sports, Taylor felt the inclusion of Head in place of Labuschagne could upset the balance of the side.
"I think (selector) George Bailey's already shown his hand that they're going to play him (Head) at the top of the order which in a way is an aggressive move but the one concern Australia will have is that Labuschagne I think will make way. More than likely he'll make way, but we're leaving out someone like Labuschagne who's an out and out batter which if you look at the games we won leading into this tournament, Labuschagne played well," said Taylor.
Despite scoring only 121 runs in four innings thus far, Taylor felt Labuschagne has looked in good nick, and the presence of a batter batting through the innings is vital.
"Sometimes you need that in one-day cricket, if there's a bit of spin or seam, you need someone who can bat long, who can bat time. Look at (New Zealand's) Daryl Mitchell (against India), if they'd had a decent hitter at the end they'd have made 300 and it would've been a very interesting game of cricket, you need someone who can bat through," added Taylor.
Before the injury, Head had been in blistering form across formats, with over 1,200 runs at an average of 46.30, including a century and eight half-centuries.
Following crushing defeats in their opening two games, the Aussies rebounded with resounding wins against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to resurrect their World Cup campaign.
"My fear for Australia is they want to go and go hard" - Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor further emphasized the presence of a solid batter in the top four that can score centuries. He pointed to the Pakistan clash when Australia collapsed from 259/0 to 367/9, adding only 108 runs in the final 17 overs.
"At the moment my fear for Australia is they want to go and go hard which is the way of cricket these days but you don't want to leave too much to do for your tail at the end of the game. I still think it's an easier game to play when one of your top four makes a score of a hundred or better," said Taylor.
He emphasized the importance of playing with a consistent and relaxed pace in some situations.
"The other day when Australia put on 259 for the first wicket, you don't need it but even then everyone goes out and tries to score 12 an over and we only scored seven an over off the last 16 overs because everyone's swinging hard. But it's not always easy to swing hard, sometimes you need to play cricket shots," added Taylor.
Despite the middle-order woes, Australia registered a comfortable 62-run against Pakistan to find themselves fourth on the points table.
They will take on the Netherlands in their next outing in Delhi on Wednesday, October 25.