Melbourne [Australia], June 16 (ANI): Former Australian skipper Tim Paine has backed under-fire top-order batters Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne, saying that players like them cannot be 'dumped' after one bad Test, and he sees them doing well during the tour of West Indies starting from June 25 onwards.

During the WTC final, both Khawaja (0 and 6) and Labuschagne (17 and 20) failed to score big as Australia faced a crushing defeat to South Africa in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. Labuschagne was promoted to the opening spot, with Cameron Green taking up the number three spot and Steve Smith batting at four. This new-look top three's failure played a huge role in the Aussies' defeat and has sparked selection debates ahead of the WI tour of three Tests, with teen opener Sam Konstas on the fringes after an outrageous debut fifty against India.

While Khawaja's failure was a rare one, as he finished as the side's top run-getter in the WTC cycle 2023-25 with 1,428 runs in 20 matches, along with two tons and six fifties, Marnus' performance in the competition was horrendous, scoring 974 runs in 20 matches with a century and eight fifties at an average of just 27.82, causing his overall batting average to decline to 46.19. Khawaja, at 38, does not have age on his side as during December this year, he will be turning 39 during the home Ashes series.

Despite the shambolic performance by the top order, Paine is not disturbed, saying, as quoted by SEN, 'They are good players, they are world class. .

'Steve Smith's (finger) injury means he would not play in the Windies first Test, so Konstas comes in and Marnus drops back. We have heard them say that when they have the spin pitches, Travis Head would slide up and Marnus down.'

'I see them going to the Windies and playing well and getting ready for a huge Ashes series. Usman and Marnus will play really, really important roles in the Ashes. We are very quick in this country to move on players, we always want to see if the grass is greener.''

Paine said that over the last 18 months, it has been realised that quality players are extremely hard to replace, using the now-retired David Warner as an example.

'Look at Dave Warner - one of our best cricketers - six months before he retired, people said he has got to go (and now) two years down the track, we still have not replaced him. You do not just have a bad Test in England and dump people like Uz and Marnus. They are a huge part of the team for the next year at least. With England coming out here, these high-quality players don't grow on trees. Great players are hard to replace,' he concluded. (ANI)