\u201cIf he wants to open, he\u2019ll probably get that \u2013 he\u2019s earned that right \u2026 But if we\u2019re going to push Travis Head back down to five, then you need a specialist opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main concern for me with this team is trying not to lose two or three big fish at the one time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Weatherald, his run of lbw and full-ball dismissals likely has another specialist opener spot opening up<\/a>. For the fourth time in nine innings, England trapped him in front.<\/p>\n Each of those dismissals, along with his Boxing Day leg glance to a waiting Jamie Smith, has featured the telltale fall to the off side and happy exploitation of that by English seamers.<\/p>\n While Head rattled along unperturbed against the new ball on Monday, Weatherald could have departed on nine when he flashed an edge high and wide of Joe Root at slip.<\/p>\n He then should have been out when he pulled one straight to Ben Duckett on 14. Duckett\u2019s poor series with the bat has been matched by his hands in the field.<\/p>\n Where Weatherald\u2019s technical flaws have continued, Marnus Labuschagne showed the scoring intent he has lacked of late<\/a>. His willingness to get onto the front foot throughout his innings of 48 from 68 balls was more akin to his strike rate of 62 during his last golden year of 2022 (957 runs at an average of 56).<\/p>\n During the increasingly stodgy two years leading to his axing last winter, Labuschagne\u2019s scoring rate slumped to 45 runs per 100 balls.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n The warning lights flashing in Adelaide and Melbourne \u2013 a combined strike rate of 37.7 \u2013 were heeded leading into Sydney, again with Potts especially obliging under darkening skies.<\/p>\n One selection query seemingly answered in Weatherald; another potentially rebuffed by Labuschagne.<\/p>\n