‘A great of Australian sport': how Minjee Lee rose to top in a golden era of women's golf
The finest triumph for Australia's highest-paid sportswoman was accompanied by something unusual. For the usually private, impassive Minjee Lee – after winning her third major at the Women's PGA Championship near her second home in Dallas, Texas – tears were a glimpse into her recent pain.
A 19-month winless run. A collapse at last year's US Open. An adoption of the broomstick putter, a very public symbol that everything was not right. But those experiences were consigned to the past after sinking a par putt on 18 in Frisco. 'It's very different, because I feel like I had a lot of doubt the past few years,' she said. 'I think this one just means a little bit more to me.'
The West Australian won by three strokes to earn $2.8m and become only the third Australian golfer to claim three different major championships, after Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson. Even Greg Norman only found major success at a single tournament, the Open Championship, in his two victories.
Lee's coach Ritchie Smith said it can be difficult to comprehend just how much Lee has achieved. 'It's a golden era for women's golf, and she's still a great,' he said. 'It's hard for me to say, because I'm her coach and I'm biased. I don't think she's just a great of golf, I think she's a great of Australian sport.'
The likes of Ash Barty, Sam Kerr, Lauren Jackson, Ellyse Perry and Stephanie Gilmore have been recognised as Australia's most successful female sportspeople in the past decade, all as standard bearers in globally competitive sports. But while Lee had risen to become the second-ranked golfer in the world by 2019, her profile – at least in Australia – was not at the same level as her peers. Outside the men's majors, golf does not have the same cut-through or broad appeal as other codes, and when it does reach a broader Australian consciousness, it is usually thanks to the achievements of PGA stars such as Adam Scott or 2022 Open Championship winner Cameron Smith. Lee's softly-spoken manner and reserved demeanour is also less than a natural fit with publicity.
Her profile has even been challenged by her younger brother Min Woo, now Australia's top-ranked men's golfer. He has emerged as a legitimate star on the men's PGA Tour over the past two years, with a brash social media status enhanced by a stream of celebrity colabs.
But over 11 years on the LPGA tour, Minjee's winnings still dwarf the prize money won by her brother, and are approaching US$20m. Even if the younger Lee passes that figure, he almost certainly will not end his career with anything near the list of her accomplishments. Minjee Lee is only the fifth active player to have won three majors alongside Lydia Ko, Yani Tseng, In Gee Chun and Anna Nordqvist, and only Ko is younger.
The Australian knows she should have had another too, after she led by three shots in the final round of last year's US Open before she 'blew up' – as she described afterwards – to finish ninth. Across Lee's many years as a professional, Smith has observed how she handles defeat less with disappointment and more with embarrassment, and the US Open result was about as bad as it could get. On the sport's highest stage, there was Lee, fully exposed.
'To capitulate the way that she did last year, it had a really negative effect on her,' Smith said. 'So to reinvest into actually being in a vulnerable position like that, it takes a long time, and this is what people don't understand. 'She's risked being vulnerable in front of a whole heap of people, and I couldn't be prouder of her to be honest, because that's a scary proposition.'
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Lee was asked by the host in the trophy ceremony whether she now wishes she had adopted the longer putter 'a little bit earlier'. She laughed and said 'no'. It was an acknowledgement of the importance of her recent adversity.
Rather than just biomechanics, Smith said Lee has undergone psychological change. 'She's been so guarded and stoic for her whole career,' he said. 'And now, if you have a look at her, her interview at the end of the round, there were actual emotions, she shed a tear – which is probably the first time she's ever done that.'
Smith believes the process means Lee can now be happier in the sport. 'All of her 'being' revolved around being a really great golfer, but when you emotionally disengage a little bit, then all of a sudden you can be the person that you want to be. And I don't know if you notice, but she smiles a lot more now.'
Lee admits the criticism affected her. 'The more I heard, like the media and other people saying things about my putting, I think it got to me more and more over time.' Yet that difficult period is now over. A major winner again, Lee said this week's triumph – highlighted by a champagne shower on the 18th green delivered by those familiar with her struggles – was 'my most deserved'.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Ranked: The 30 greatest fast bowlers in Test history
My editors tasked me, having seen more than 500 Test matches, with whittling down the finest 30 fast bowlers who ever drew breath. It is an almost impossible task, but I gave myself a helping hand with the chief criterion that the bowlers in this list must have bowled at more than 80mph. Therefore there is no place for greats such as Alec Bedser, Maurice Tate, Syd Barnes or George Lohmann of yore, and towards the end of his career Kapil Dev was in the medium-pace category. Here goes... 30. Jack Gregory 24 Tests, 85 wickets at an average of 31, and a strike rate of 65 balls per wicket 'Never before have English batsmen been so demoralised by great pace,' Wisden stated about the Australian fast bowler Jack Gregory in 1921. This sounds as if it is where bowling above 80mph begins. In his authoritative new book on the history of the game, my Telegraph Sport colleague Tim Wigmore cites the evidence that Gregory hit England batsmen 20 times above the waist in his 21 Ashes Tests, which is a rare strike-rate. He scored the fastest Test century and kept playing as an all-rounder even when his knees let him down so his overall bowling record does not look great. 29. Mike Procter 7 Tests, 41 wickets at 15 each, and 37 balls per wicket Before South Africa were banned, Proctor's statistics, as far as they went, were better than anyone's. He hurtled to the crease and whirled his right arm, a bit like Jasprit Bumrah, giving the false impression that he bowled off the wrong foot. His inswinger was so vicious that against right-handed batsmen he averaged 11. 28. Wes Hall 48 Tests, 192 wickets at 26, and 54 balls per wicket Similar in height, method and leap at the crease to Jack Gregory, he was the first fast bowler to reign in Asia: in the West Indies' 1958-59 series in India he took 30 wickets at 17 each, and 16 at 17 each in Pakistan, figures that have yet to be surpassed by any fast bowler touring Asia. His name was then writ large in the imagination of Australia, where he bowled the final over of the tied Test, and in England in 1963, where he bowled a spell of three-and-a-half hours in the Lord's Test. 27. Joel Garner 58 Tests, 259 wickets at 20, and 51 balls per wicket Using his experiences of one-day competitions at Somerset, Garner became the foremost bowler in limited-overs cricket – as when winning the 1979 World Cup for West Indies – and revived the yorker's popularity, the delivery having fallen out of fashion (it is so-called because Yorkshire bowlers of the 19th century used it). In one-day internationals he conceded only 3.09 runs per over. In Tests too he was always economical, with old ball and new. Whatever he bowled, the threat was accentuated by his 6ft 8in height – and when Garner kicked up his knees, the batsman realised he was facing an unprecedented form of danger. 26. Mitchell Starc 97 Tests, 387 wickets at 27, and 48 balls per wicket While Trent Boult took 600 wickets in all formats for New Zealand, Starc went one better. When pitching the new ball on a full length he has been driven for runs but has also swung it to devastating effect (as Rory Burns's leg stump can vouch). Only Wasim Akram, of left-arm pace bowlers, has taken more Test wickets with 414, and Starc could overtake him during the next Ashes. The variety he offers has been a key component in Australia winning medals in all formats over the past decade. 25. Courtney Walsh 132 Tests, 519 wickets at 24, and 58 balls per wicket Never mind the best Test match figures of any bowler when captain – 13 wickets for 55 against New Zealand – his immense stamina enabled him to bowl more than 30,000 balls in Tests alone, and eventually to reach the top of the pile with 519 wickets. Having bowled heaps for Gloucestershire too, he could vary his length more than his contemporary Curtly Ambrose. Spare a thought too for Walsh and the late David Lawrence being perhaps the quickest pair of opening bowlers that county cricket has seen, alongside Sussex's Garth Le Roux and Imran Khan when in the mood. 24. Andy Roberts 47 Tests, 202 wickets at 26, and 55 balls per wicket He was probably as fast as anyone there has ever been in his first couple of years of Test and county cricket (when he hit Colin Cowdrey on the head while taking 111 wickets at 13 each for Hampshire in 1974). And he took 32 wickets at 18 each in the West Indies series in India that winter. Then he evolved into a wise technician who schooled the great West Indian cohort of fast bowlers, teaching them how to build stamina without any academies by running on the beach, use cross-seam to bowl bouncers and – the hardest of all bowling tricks – to flick the shiny side over in the delivery stride to deceive the batsman. 23. Fred Trueman 67 Tests, 307 wickets at 22, and 49 balls per wicket He has to be given a bonus point for the most handsome bowling action of anyone in this list: it was a perfect marriage of power, speed and aesthetic grace in his delivery stride (bowlers do not bowl side-on any more to reduce injury). He set a world record by reaching 307 Test wickets but how many more would he have taken had he had been selected for more than four tours? He was often deemed unselectable for non-cricket reasons, but that did help feed into his personality as 'Fiery Fred'. From a tearaway he evolved into a fast-medium outswing bowler who could bowl cutters. 22. Sir James Anderson 188 Tests, 704 wickets at 26, and 57 balls per wicket He does not rate highly for strike rate (almost nine-and-a-half overs to take a wicket) but he comes top for longevity – more than 40,000 balls spanning a Test career of 21 years – and arguably for craftsmanship too: he could do everything with the seam of a cricket ball, and accurately too. Always effective in England with a Dukes ball, he also found a way for England to win their series of 2010-11 in Australia and 2012-13 in India. 21. Kagiso Rabada 71 Tests, 336 wickets at 22, and 39 balls per wicket The South African has the best strike rate of any pace bowler who has taken more than 100 wickets in Tests, largely by pitching the new ball up on the line of the stumps. Anyone can start an outswinger on or outside off stump, precious few on leg and middle. Mean bouncer too. Bowling outside England with a Kookaburra ball makes it an even finer record, although it is probably an advantage to play only two-Test series. 20. John Snow 49 Tests, 202 wickets at 27, and 60 balls per wicket Fast bowlers traditionally bowled full and straight with the odd bouncer thrown in, aside from the Bodyline series. Snow evolved the process by innovating the back-of-a-length ball that kicked into a batsman's ribs. He therefore had the fine haul of 32 wickets at 22 in the 1970-71 Ashes series. He analysed his craft like nobody in England before him. Might have performed even better if paid slightly more than a pittance. 19. Frank Tyson 17 Tests, 76 wickets at 19, and 45 balls per wicket If one man commands a place in this list on the basis of one series then it is Frank Tyson, almost unknown when he went to Australia in 1954-55 under Len Hutton. He blew the Australians away with his full length and almost certainly the fastest bowling seen till then, verging on 90 miles an hour if not exceeding. When he returned four years later, there was nothing left in the tank, only the massive shoulders which had powered him. 18. Michael Holding 60 Tests, 249 wickets at 24, and 51 balls per wicket The most graceful run-up of anyone in this list, which is not surprising given that he came from Jamaica, a land of great runners. His finest feat was his demolition of England at the Oval in 1976: 14 wickets for 149 runs on a featherbed. Arguably it was the final fanfare of traditional fast bowling, before helmets appeared, in that he aimed full and straight. He bowled the very high proportion of one-third of his victims, which suggests how far from the ball some of them were at the time. 17. Harold Larwood 21 Tests, 78 wickets at 28, and 64 balls per wicket The first fast bowler of whom there is good film footage, and we can see from it that in the Bodyline series of 1932-3 he was essentially half a century ahead of his time. The keeper is starting to take the ball with his fingers pointing skywards as batsmen hop and hope. He took 33 wickets at 19 in that Bodyline series. It was the only answer to Don Bradman and the blandest pitches there have been in England and Australia around 1930. 16. Richard Hadlee 86 Tests, 431 wickets at 22, and 51 balls per wicket Arguably the most efficient of all fast-medium bowlers on a pitch which offered something. The New Zealander married an accountant's mind, inherited from his father Walter, to all his physical attributes, and maximised his assets. Not having a partner of anything like equal calibre was a hindrance and an advantage in that the biggest slice of pie was always going to be his. Took the world record for Test wickets at one stage, before being knighted. 15. Ray Lindwall 61 Tests, 228 wickets at 23, and 60 balls per wicket One of the most graceful actions, and one of the most graceful, gentle personalities in cricket, he nonetheless had a bouncer that could take unhelmeted heads off and gave Len Hutton nightmares. Only one person has taken more Test wickets hit-wicket than Lindwall's three, which suggests there was not much wriggle room. His stock delivery was the quick outswinger. 14. Alan Davidson 44 Tests, 186 wickets at 21, and 62 balls per wicket Not an outright scary left-arm pace bowler, he was nevertheless more versatile than any apart from Sir Garfield Sobers because he could also bowl spin in Asia. His main suit, though, was fast-medium new-ball swing into the right-handed batsman. He played in the slow-scoring era of the late 1950s but it was still some feat to concede fewer than two runs per over. 13. Dennis Lillee 70 Tests, 355 wickets at 24, and 52 balls per wicket Choreography does play a role in a fast bowler's impact, though Chris Woakes has said otherwise, and nobody can have played the role of alpha-male fast bowler more dauntingly than Lillee. He bowled fast outswing, precision bouncers, and could muster a leg-cutter though never an off-cutter. Without reverse swing in his armoury, he took only six wickets in his four Tests in Asia. 12. Allan Donald 72 Tests, 330 wickets at 22, and 47 balls per wicket Primed by Warwickshire, Allan Donald led South Africa's charge on their return to international cricket after isolation. And charge he did, and leapt, like a lion going for a gazelle's throat. Strangely, many have swung the ball more before pitching but perhaps nobody has swung the ball more after pitching, in bizarre parabolas, than 'AD' at Edgbaston. The heart of a lion too. 11. Pat Cummins 68 Tests, 301 wickets at 22, and 46 balls per wicket A perfect exponent of the new school of wobble seam, he runs in and delivers with unerring accuracy. In his early years, thanks to the speed of his rotation, he was as quick as anybody but once he had finally recovered from all his back injuries he settled down into the late 80s miles per hour. Remarkably, he is almost as effective when he has to captain. 10. Waqar Younis 87 Tests, 373 wickets at 24, and 44 balls per wicket For a couple of years, until his back played up in 1991-92, he merited a couple of superlatives: the longest run-up and the fastest reverse-swinging yorker, having learnt it from his captain Imran Khan. More than half of his Test wickets, 212, were either bowled or leg-before: the only possible response was to bat left-handed. In 1991 he took 113 wickets at 14 for Surrey: he would not be allowed to do that now – which might have extended his peak. 9. Dale Steyn 93 Tests, 439 wickets at 23, and 42 balls per wicket Nobody has looked so menacing on a cricket field as Steyn after taking a wicket, as he simulated thrusting a bayonet or spear into a fallen victim, eyes bulging. His two weapons were the fast outswinger, which had 109 batsmen caught-behind by the keeper, and the bouncer. Not much in between but then there was seldom a need for anything else. His strike rate is almost the same as Bumrah's. 8. Shaun Pollock 108 Tests, 421 wickets at 23, and 58 balls per wicket He had it all in his time. At the outset he was long-limbed gangly-fast and as threatening as Allan Donald at the other end, and struck helmets for a pastime (too soon for concussion subs). He slowed down, but not by much, into another Curtly Ambrose, never giving the batsman anything except a bouncer for old times' sake. And the best batsman out of everyone in this list bar Mike Procter and Imran Khan. 7. Mitchell Johnson 73 Tests, 313 wickets at 28, and 51 balls per wicket Sometimes too short and inaccurate, Johnson at his peak in 2013-14 was surely the most lethal fast bowler that has ever been. A left-armer, he could explode from little short of a length into a batsman's ribs or face. England held the Ashes and some top batsmen including Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen but they were blown away 5-0, and South Africa followed: in those eight Tests Johnson took 59 wickets at only 15 each. 6. Wasim Akram 104 Tests, 414 wickets at 23, and 54 runs per wicket Tutored by Imran Khan, he had the same range of skills with new ball and old but was left-handed. He could therefore run through a side by going round the wicket and reversing the ball into the batsman's toes which made for a unique angle, like being thrown out from extra cover. In placing him above Johnson, we should factor in that he played his home Tests on pitches devoid of seam movement. 5. Glenn McGrath 104 Tests, 414 wickets at 23, and 54 runs per wicket Unlike Curtly Ambrose he could very occasionally be rattled and hit off his length, but otherwise he did what he did immaculately, by bowling on or just outside off stump and usually with some steepling bounce. He made Shane Warne's life a lot simpler by knocking over top orders. Throw in ODIs and he took almost a thousand international wickets… but what if an opening batsman had gone after him a la Ben Duckett? 4. Imran Khan 88 Tests, 362 wickets at 23, and 54 balls per wicket Not being content with mere inswing at Oxford, he acquired the conventional skills in county cricket then added reverse-swing as taught by Sarfraz Nawaz, so that he conquered inside and outside Asia. He was the first great bowler to bowl reverse swing not by soaking one side of the ball with sweat but by roughing up the leather on one side to make it lighter – before umpires began to inspect. In Pakistan he took 163 wickets at 19. Has anyone moved the ball more in the air than Imran's boomerangs in the early 1980s before his back injury? 3. Curtly Ambrose 98 Tests, 405 wickets at 21, and a wicket every 54 balls The only modern bowler who was never taken apart, not least because he might slip in a beamer if he was hit (before high full tosses were called no-balls). Nobody has maintained such an unwavering back of a length, so his economy rate was outstanding although he might have taken more wickets if he had pitched fuller. He conceded 2.3 per over when limited-overs hitting was kicking into Tests. His spell of seven wickets for one run against Australia in Perth can hardly be surpassed. 2. Malcolm Marshall 81 Tests, 376 wickets at 21, and a wicket every 47 balls He just missed out on the two World Cup victories by West Indies in 1975 and 1979 but he had the skills to succeed in every format. He could not only swing the ball both ways but cut it both ways and bowl the meanest bouncer because he was not too tall. He almost sprinted on tip-toe to the crease: as Mike Selvey wrote, like a sidewinder on the attack. 1. Jasprit Bumrah 46 Tests, 210 wickets at 20, and a wicket every 42 balls Deserves to be recognised as the finest Test fast bowler, and the finest white-ball fast bowler, there has been. Nobody has delivered the ball closer to the batsman since the front-foot no-ball was introduced, thanks to his extended right elbow. By anecdotal evidence, no pace bowler has ever been so difficult to read as he flicks his fingers in addition to the snap of his wrist; and by statistical evidence he is unsurpassed too, as the only Test bowler of any kind to have taken more than 200 wickets at an average below 20 (19.60). And one more stat: he averages 17 in Australia and India. Bumrah has raised the bar as the all-format fast bowler.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Aussie teen Maya Joint wins crucial Wimbledon warm-up tournament - while opponent was left in tears
Teenage sensation Maya Joint has earned an epic, backs-to-the-wall maiden grass-court triumph at the Eastbourne International to give Australia's challenge at Wimbledon the perfect launch pad. The remarkable US-born 19-year-old, who's been making a stratospheric rise in the sport since relocating to Queensland less than two years ago, saved four match points on her way to defeating fellow rising star Alexandra Eala in a pulsating tiebreak finale on Saturday (Sunday AEST). It meant Joint became the first Australian player to win the women's title in the 50-year history of the British seaside event which has become the traditional curtain raiser for the grass-court grand slam which begins on Monday. 'It's been an amazing year, an amazing two years,' beamed Joint at Devonshire Park, while saluting the Aussie coach Chris Mahony she credits for transforming her career. 'Thank you for everything you've done. You're a lifesaver,' she told him on court. The astonishing 6-4 1-6 7-6 (12-10) win rocketed Brisbane-based Joint, who only turned 19 in April, to No.41 in the world when she kicks off her maiden Wimbledon with a tough opener against Russian No.19 seed Liudmila Samsonova on Tuesday. 'I'm very happy right now, feeling very relieved as well. It was a very difficult match. In that third set, and I'm proud of myself for coming back and staying in the match, even though I'd lost about nine of the last 10 games,' said Joint. She had been 5-2 down, and almost out, in the final breaker, having to come up with fabulous defensive scrabbling to stay in contention as Eala came agonisingly close to becoming the Philippines' first ever WTA champion. But the teenage daughter of former Sydney squash professional Michael Joint demonstrated real courage and calm in a terrific showdown which, after a nervy spell from both players as they both homed in on the title, really hit the heights in the youngest final since Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger in 1981. For Eala, who's become a young heroine in the Philippines, it was all so crushing after Joint sealed the deal with a backhand cross-court winner that the 20-year-old ended in tears, with the Australian trying to console her that 'we will definitely play in more finals'. Remarkably, Joint's run to her first WTA title on the clay at the Morocco Open five weeks ago also came on the weekend before a grand slam, and she then got knocked out in the first round by Ajla Tomljanovic. 'It's really great preparation. I've got a lot of matches in before Wimbledon, and hopefully I can be in Wimbledon a little bit longer than I was in the French,' said Joint. 'I think this time's a tiny bit different. I get one more day of rest, and I'll just detach myself a little bit more from the last match, and just focus on the match coming up. 'But I'm just really excited to get to London later today, and step into Wimby for the first time.' For Eala, who's become a young heroine in the Philippines, it was all so crushing that the 20-year-old ended in tears Of Samsonova, a tough customer who's reached the last-16 in three grand slams, Joint shrugged: 'I haven't played her before, so I don't know too much about her. 'When I get to Wimbledon, I'll just take a walk around, have some strawberries and cream - I love strawberries and cream.' The news quickly spread to the youngster's friends and colleagues at Wimbledon 120km north of the seaside town, leaving Daria Kasatkina, who won the tournament last year before she switched her allegiance to Australia, delighted for her Eastbourne hitting partner. 'I practised with her before Eastbourne, and she actually had a little struggle playing on grass, and I could see she was a bit, let's say, depressed about the practice,' revealed the woman who's Australia's No.1 ahead of Joint.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Beau Webster's dependability should give heart to Australia's Test hopefuls new and old
Australia's bowlers rescued the first Test against West Indies in Barbados, so the team will be relieved to welcome back blue-chip batter Steve Smith for the second Test in Grenada. In London a fortnight ago, a fielding mishap looked like it had caused Smith's finger a horrific break, but instead the injury was a dislocation, and it has settled well enough for him to come safely through a net session in New York City. Smith will rejoin the team in Barbados on Sunday, with a final fitness check the day before the next fixture starting on 3 July. Australian coach Andrew McDonald confirmed that Smith will slot straight back in at his preferred No 4 spot when available, which will mean that Josh Inglis has to make way after filling in and returning a rare failure with the bat in Australian colours. There are no other spots available, after McDonald backed Sam Konstas to open and Cameron Green at No 3, while praising the work in Bridgetown of Travis Head at No 5 and Beau Webster at No 6. He was, though, straightforward about the shortcomings of his 19-year-old opening bat, after Konstas made three and five in the first Test across two scattershot innings. 'The players are their harshest critics, really, when all's said and done,' McDonald said the day after the win was completed on the third evening with a dramatic late West Indies collapse. 'He's debriefing now, we've had some conversations around potentially if you're in that situation again, what does that look like, and that's what experience is. It felt like he was stuck at times, and he was overaggressive, and then underplayed, and it's really that balance and tempo. 'The ball darting back on the lower side is a battle for most batters. He's been on the record around working on his technique in the winter, and some small adjustments, and how they play out in training versus under extreme pressure is always a different sort of pattern. He's working on it. He knows his deficiencies, but from a batting perspective I encourage all players to learn to play with their deficiencies. I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect technique. Konstas is a teenager thrown into Test cricket after a handful of first-class games, so it's interesting to note the contrast with all-rounder Webster, who at 31 years old has had the time to develop his game across 11 seasons and over 100 first-class outings. According to Webster's comments after play, that has given him a belief in his method that a few bad results can't shake, and although his career is five Tests old, his composure and calm at the crease have been notable. In such a short span, Australia have already come to depend on him. Webster has played those five matches in four countries, with a home debut, two Sri Lanka matches, the World Test Championship final in London, and now Barbados. Only the 1980s New Zealand batter Phil Horne, whose career of four matches spanned four countries, has done something similar. But wherever Webster has gone, he has adjusted. His 57 and 39 not out against India in Sydney were matchwinning in a low-scoring game, as was his 63 in Bridgetown. Two weeks earlier he top scored at Lord's against South Africa with 72 in another faltering innings, although Australia lost, while in Sri Lanka he made useful runs and contributed wickets in two wins. Bowling seam and spin adds to his versatility. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion McDonald said that Webster's success, plucked from the Sheffield Shield at a later stage after years of improvement, should give heart to experienced players like Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft, who were still regularly 'in the conversation' between selectors and coach. For the time being, though, the opening spot they covet remains with the youthful experiment that is Konstas, while Smith's return may see the same selectors send Marnus Labuschagne home to play for Australia A in Darwin against Sri Lanka A from 13 July, as the former No 3 looks to get back into run-scoring rhythm. Wherever those runs come from, Australia need some, because as they learned to their cost in London, relying on bowling rescues can only work so much of the time.
