“Wrong call for him to going to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy” - Former pacer’s massive statement on Australian batter

Former Australia fast bowler Damien Fleming reckons that middle-order batter Marnus Labuschagne has made the wrong decision to play in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final. The 54-year-old wants the right-handed batter to play in Sheffield Shield instead of playing the 50-over format.

Labuschagne recently returned with scores of 20, 2, and 26* in his three outings during the two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. With the Champions Trophy, he will continue to play in sub-continent conditions. However, the conditions will be completely different when the defending WTC champions lock horns with South Africa in the final at Lord’s in London later this year.

Fleming wrote in his column for ‘The Roar’:

“Marnus Labuschagne will get a confidence boost out of that little sneaky 26 not out in the second innings but I think it’s the wrong call for him to be going to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. I reckon some Sheffield Shield action would have helped him, to be honest.”

Labuschagne consolidated his place in the Australia squad for the 50-over ICC event despite a string of low scores in his last five outings – 6, 16 (vs Pakistan) and 4, 0, 19 (vs England).

Damien Fleming backs pacer to play ahead of Josh Hazlewood in WTC 2025 final between Australia and South Africa

Meanwhile, Damien Fleming has picked Australia’s Scott Boland to play ahead of Josh Hazlewood in the WTC 2025 final against South Africa. In the same column, the cricketer-turned-commentator wrote:

“Let’s hope that Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood’s recoveries are all good for the WTC final but there’s still Scott Boland who might play ahead of Hazelwood if the conditions are more suited to his style.”

The remarks came a month after Boland played a vital role in helping Australia beat India 3-1 in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). The medium pacer bagged 21 wickets in three Tests as the hosts thumped India for the first time in a Test series in 10 years.

Last month, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin acknowledged that Boland destroyed India’s chance of completing a hat-trick of series wins Down Under. The off-spinner said on his YouTube channel 'Ash ki Baat' (via India Today):

“All said that Pat Cummins had a great series, but he struggled against left-handers. Australia was lucky that Scott Boland came into the team. If Boland had not played, India would have won the series. No offence to Josh Hazlewood; he is a fantastic bowler. But if they had continued with the same attack, we would have won. Boland's round-the-wicket deliveries to our left-handers were a major factor.”

Boland had replaced injured Hazlewood for the second, fourth, and fifth Tests against India, respectively.