Aussies wait on selection for World Test Championship Final

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has revealed he is still working out his playing XI for next month's ICC World Test Championship Final.

The reigning World Test Championship winners will come together in the United Kingdom at the start of next month ahead of the one-off Test against South Africa at Lord's from June 11.

Australia have plenty of decisions to ponder before they settle on their final XI, with the exact make-up of their batting order still up for grabs less than three weeks out from the north London decider.

Left-hander opener Usman Khawaja is locked in as one of Australia's openers, but much debate has already been had surrounding who will partner the veteran at the top of the batting order for the clash with the Proteas.

Teenager Sam Konstas and veteran No.3 Marnus Labuschagne have already been mooted as potential openers, while McDonald suggested that in-form all-rounder Cameron Green may also come into contention to partner Khawaja.

Green has scored three centuries for Gloucester over the past six weeks in Division 2 of England's County Championship and McDonald believes the talented 25-year-old can fill a role in a variety of batting positions.

“I think he (Green) can bat anywhere,” McDonald said on Australian radio station SEN.

“He could be three, he could be five, he could be six, he could open.

“I think he’s got the temperament, the skillset, the defensive play as well. The higher up you go defensive skills are a priority, and he’s got all bases covered. He plays the short ball well.

“You’re not going to get a negative word from the coach about Cameron Green and his batting.”

While Green is unable to bowl in the World Test Championship Final as he continues to recover from back surgery, McDonald said the Aussies were also still tossing up whether they would select an all-rounder in their XI for the Ultimate Test with South Africa.

All-rounder Beau Webster did nothing wrong in three Test appearances against India and Sri Lanka when deputising for Green at the start of this year and McDonald believes the 31-year-old is among the contenders for a place in the XI should conditions suit.

“There’s an XI on a board but it has dashes with multiple names in different positions,” McDonald said.

“As we put the squad together the first part is to have a 15, to give yourself all options.

“Do we need to play the all-rounder? It depends on the conditions and that will then shuffle batting positions. We are quite flexible in our approach to that.

“It will depend on the all-rounder. If you need the all-rounder in the conditions, that would then lend itself to a decision around the top order. It will be how much we prioritise the bowling element.

“We’ve got roughly what we think it might look like, then there will be some decisions when we get to the pointy end. We’ll try to give clarity to the players the closer we get.”