India vs Australia 3rd ODI: Australia have not yet decided who will replace injured David Warner for the third and final ODI against India on Wednesday as the host eyes a 3-0 clean sweep against the Men in Blue.
With Warner ruled out of Friday’s day-night game at Manuka Oval in Canberra, Australia skipper Aaron Finch cited three possibilities for his new opening partner – Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey, with left-hander Wade’s inclusion as a like-for-like replacement providing the additional benefit of minimal disruption to a batting line-up that has propelled Australia to 350-plus totals in their past two outings.
Finch also noted the fact Australia has wrapped-up the three-match ODI Series allows selectors a little more freedom than would be available if tomorrow’s match was a decider, with a final call expected to be made after inspection of the Manuka pitch at training later today.
“We haven’t picked a team yet, but we’ve got a few options,” Finch told cricket.com.au on Tuesday.
“Whether we go Wadey in the side or Marnus comes up and opens the batting, Alex Carey has done a lot of it in the past.
“But the middle-order has been functioning really well over the last little while.
“That’s the beauty of being two-nil up in the series, you can look to experiment if you want to do that or you can look to play the safe option.”
Notably, Wade has not played an ODI for Australia in more than three years, but formed a successful opening combination with Ben McDermott for Tasmania in the domestic one-day competition two summers ago.
Carey was employed at the top of the order alongside Finch in three ODIs last year, while Labuschagne has experience as an opener for Queensland in the Marsh Sheffield Shield and yesterday confirmed he would “love” the opportunity to tackle the role in an ODI.