Thinking at the start of the tournament had Marnus Labuschagne as the obvious omission given he wasn’t even in the original squad until Travis Head suffered a broken hand in South Africa.

While Labuschagne has struggled at times to lift his strike rate,he has played every match,first as cover for Head and then pushing Green out of the side.

On Saturday night,Labuschagne was the glue that held the Australian innings together after the team’s potent launching pad,their opening partnership,had a rare double failure as Head (11) and David Warner (15) were both out cheaply. Labuschagne top-scored with 71 from 83 balls,the only Australian to pass 50. He is now Australia’s second-highest run scorer with 272 at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 79.

Australia’s leading run-scorer is David Warner with 428 at 61 and a strike rate of 112. However,Australia’s other big-name batter,Steve Smith,has 205 runs at just 29 and only one half-century,increasing the value of Labuschagne’s middle-order contribution.

Green has been a fan of the way Labuschagne has contributed to Australia’s run of success after beginning the tournament with bad losses against the top two teams,India and South Africa.

“We know how reliable Marnus is,especially when you go two down in the power play,and it was pretty tough at the start,” Green said. “He is batting beautifully at the moment,ever since he came back into the ODI side.

“We were all good in our camp. We knew India and South Africa were the two best teams leading in.”

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