David Warner retires in Sydney early next month, and when he does, the question of his replacement will be all that is spoken about before the West Indies’ arrival. Some argue that the answer to who walks out onto the field alongside Usman Khawaja is in the team itself currently, my argument is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The great thing about right now is that a variety of great openers are on the table. The question is whether Australia want to maintain the status quo of pairing a strong defensive player like Khawaja with a more aggressive opener in the Warner mould or whether they want to pick the best option possible, even if that means two slower starters. Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris were disheartened to not chalk up a decent score for the PM’s XI, but they are aggressive batters who can, with a solid anchor in Khawaja at the other end, set the agenda early. Then you have Matthew Renshaw, who is a personal favourite. The bloke is patient, carefully builds an innings and fits more like a traditional test batter in the Rahul Dravid or Cheteshwar Pujara style. What matters isn’t who replaces Warner, it’s asking the question of how we want Australia’s opening pair to play. Basketball Association. (Photo by Jono Searle – CA/Cricket 321 Australia via Getty Images) A calamitous Pakistan batting collapse, or an ominous sign for the summer? Was anyone else really looking forward to this Test series because it was likely to be a tougher contest than many had suggested? Pakistan have some quality batters and exciting bowlers, so my expectation was for a compelling battle rather than a thrashing to kick things off in Perth. Was it compelling? Honestly, in parts it was. Then day four rolled around. Yes, their preparation of a rained-out PM’s XI game wasn’t ideal, but there was a lot to suggest that the Pakistani batting would, at the very least, offer an exciting contest against Australia’s bowling. Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel have looked fantastic for much of 2023 and Imam-ul-Haq&rsq
