England cricket great Kevin Pietersen rips to shreds Australia's batting line-up
England cricket legend Kevin Pietersen has fired an early warning shot ahead of this summer's Ashes series in Australia.
After watching Australia's batters struggle in the recent World Test Championship final against South Africa, Pietersen believes England bowlers will have little to fear when the Ashes begins in WA in November.
Among other criticisms, Pietersen said the demise of 30-year-old Marnus Labuschagne was 'very strange' and he said allrounder Cameron Green should not be coming in at No.3
'The batting is not what the batting used to be. Apart from Steve Smith,' Pietersen said.
'I've not seen anything here that would worry me. Not seen it at all.
'I don't know what has happened to Marnus the last couple of years.
'He just won't hit the ball. It's very strange to see.'
Pietersen also put the spotlight on Green, who made 4 and a duck against South Africa.
'Cameron Green is not a No.3,' Pietersen said.
Not only are there form concerns, Australia's top line-up is ageing.
Usman Khawaja is 38 and will turn 39 this December, Steve Smith is 36, Mitchell Starc is 35, Nathan Lyon will be 38 in November and Pat Cummins is 32.
Even Beau Webster, who made his Test debut in January this year, will be 32 in December.
The team is starting to look like Dad's Army but Pietersen was prepared to cut the veteran stars some slack, and backed in the bowlers.
'Smith is a different level, a modern great,' he said.
He also thought Khawaja was certainly good for another Ashes campaign.
'Uzzie is what Uzzie is. He has a good record,' Pietersen said.
'Beau Webster, I've seen better batters than him from what I've seen here. And I've only seen him here and it would probably be hard for me to forge an opinion just on what I've seen here because the ball has actually done quite a bit.
'But just technique ... if I was an English bowler, I would fancy my chances against this batting line-up.
'Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon, Scotty Boland, there's some proper bowling, but as an England bowler (I wouldn't be worried).
'I'd be saying I'd rather be a bowler this Ashes series.'
Labuschagne is expected to be dropped for the Test against the West Indies but he could return to the team for the Ashes.
Australian coach Andrew McDonald is certainly not ruling him out despite the fact he has a century drought that is almost 24 months long.
'He's a big part of the future of the team,' McDonald said.
'Anyone that averages (46.19) in Test cricket at that age (30) is important.
'We've got older players there that are closer to the end than the start.
'If he can get his game in good order for the next four or five years, he can underpin that batting order, but at the moment, he'd be disappointed with the returns.
'We're confident that he could return to his best, hence why we keep picking him, and it's at what point do we stop picking him?
'There's no harder worker than Marnus, and now it's really just about the returns.'
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