Australia Batters Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne To Play Sheffield Shield Ahead Of Test Series Against Pakistan

Sydney [Australia] : Australia’s star batters Alex Carey and Marnus Labuschagne will participate in the Sheffield Shield this week after their return from the recently concluded ICC World Cup 2023.

All-rounder Cameron Green will also feature for Western Australia against Queensland as he begins his push to return to the Test side. Carey, who was left off the one-day squad following the World Cup match between India and Pakistan, will be looking to get back on track when he takes on Victoria in Adelaide ahead of the Test series against Pakistan.

Carey concluded the Ashes with scores of 8, 5, 20, 10, and 28 after scoring fifty runs in the World Test Championship final against India and another crucial fifty in the win against England at Edgbaston. Wicketkeeper-batter Carey was dropped from the playing XI after Australia’s first match of the World Cup and after that failed to regain his place. He will take the spot behind the stumps for South Australia when they face Victoria at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday which will help him sharpen his game ahead of the first Test against Pakistan beginning in Perth on December 14.

“I don’t feel like one-day and Test cricket overlay,” Carey said last week. “So we’ll wait and see when Test selection comes out, but I’m looking forward to getting out there Tuesday and having a hit with the red ball for the Redbacks and then see what happens.

“You never want to get dropped in any format, and unfortunately after the first game I didn’t get back out there, but I thought I held myself around the group pretty well.”

Labuschagne, who made a stunning comeback to the ODI team after missing the World Cup cut and then going on to have a string of matches that kept him in the side the entire time, will bat against Green for Queensland in an attempt to take advantage of a red-ball hit before to the Test matches.

On the other hand, Green, who featured in three matches during Australia’s successful World Cup title run, was also named in a strong Prime Minister’s XI side to face Pakistan in Canberra next month. Green’s selection in the squad potentially indicates from national selectors that the West Australian all-rounder Mitch Marsh is the first choice to take the No.6 spot for the first Test against Pakistan.