New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Marnus Labuschagne said he will bat wherever needed if called up for the Ashes as Australia looks for an opening batter to pair with Usman Khawaja. He also admitted he’s “walking a little taller” after regaining confidence in the Sheffield Shield.

A difficult three-year period at Test level led to the long-time top-order batter being dropped for a series in the West Indies and potentially missing this summer’s Ashes against England.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old has started strongly, scoring four centuries in five innings across three List A matches and two Sheffield Shield games for Queensland.

He was named in Australia’s squad for the ongoing three-match ODI series against India, but missed out of the playing XI and was benched for the first game at Perth. Speaking to Fox Cricket on the sidelines, Labuschagne said he’s ready to bat wherever the selectors and coach want him to.

“Wherever the selectors and coach put me, that’s where I’ll be batting. But I’ve batted my whole career for Australia at three. So, there’s nothing more to be said, wherever they put me (I will bat). (The Ashes are) always in the back of your mind. I always just kept telling myself that if I’m playing at my best, that stuff takes care of itself,” he stated.

Since the beginning of the domestic summer on September 17, Labuschagne has recorded scores of 130, two, 160, 105, 159, and 18. These performances almost guarantee his selection for the Ashes, especially as the rest of the country’s top order batters have struggled early in the season.

Labuschagne was clearly lacking form and confidence before he was dropped, but the former Test player of the year believes that nothing has helped him more than his scoring spree.

“It’s always nice when you’re scoring runs, you probably walk a bit taller, you’ve got that confidence, and it’s probably a nice reminder for yourself after struggling for a couple of years that you’ve still got it. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how many runs you’ve scored, when you don’t score runs for a while, those doubts creep in.

“To go back and find a way to keep scoring runs and try to play as many games as I possibly can – I think I played six or seven club games, into two or three practice games, into the first game of the season. I really went back to the chalkboard and tried to start from scratch by playing games and letting that be the focus,” he further remarked.

Labuschagne featured in 104 innings of 58 Tests for Australia and has 4435 runs in his kitty, including 11 hundreds and 23 half-centuries. He has maintained an average of 46.19 and a strike rate of 51.67 in the longest format of the game.

–IANS

vi/bc