Former Australia cricketer Aaron Finch said that he feels there is pressure on the top order to be among the runs, especially Marnus Labuschagne, to reduce the over-reliance on the counter-attacking middle and lower-middle order batters as well. However, Australia have shuffled their batting order yet again, with Steve Smith returning to No. 4 in Cameron Green’s absence, while Nathan McSweeney becomes the new opener as well.

Finch said on the ‘Willow Talk’ podcast (via daily newspaper The West Australian): “For a while now, the likes of Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, and Alex Carey have been getting them out of a little bit of trouble at times. I think Marnus in particular, there’ll be some extra pressure on this one and just another part in his whole career. You look back, there was often talk about Marnus gets dropped a lot and he goes on and cashes in, where as now he’s nicking them now or they’re taking half chances that they haven’t taken for a while.”

“This is a big summer, no doubt. The level between Shield cricket and Test cricket is great but he dominates domestic cricket, so that shows that he is the best player for Australia to have batting at No.3. I’ve got no doubt that he’ll turn it around. He works too hard, he tinkers constantly with his game, and maybe it’s time just to say ‘right, this is your summer and really to take it upon yourself to be that man at No.3’,” Finch again said.

Finch has added that Khawaja and McSweeney offering early resistance will allow Steve Smith to come out against an older ball that is less likely to move, making things much easier.

“He’s not going to blaze away in the first half an hour. If that lightens the load on Steve Smith (because) he (McSweeney) gets through an hour, gets through two hours, gets through three hours — Steve Smith walking in and the ball’s 35 overs old compared to eight overs old, that is a different game altogether. I think you take that into account as well. I like the selection,” Finch concluded.