Sam Konstas set to be dropped for Marnus Labuschagne as Australia works Cam Green back into Test team

Australia are poised to make a major reshuffle to fit West Aussie all-rounder Cam Green in its team for next month’s World Test Championship final.

According to reports, selectors are eyeing Marnus Labuschagne to open the batting for the first time ever in Test cricket in the one-off showpiece final against South Africa at Lord’s.

That would mean Green is likely to bat at No.3, with Steve Smith retaining his position at four.

The victim of that looming shake-up would be Sam Konstas, who has battled for form since his stunning Test debut in December and has not been able to secure a county deal to stake his claim in English conditions.

Labuschagne will join county side Glamorgan for two matches starting next Friday after staying home for the birth of his second child.

He made crucial scores of 72 and 70 in Australia’s famous win over India at Melbourne last summer and a gritty 64 in the Adelaide Test. Those knocks defied a long lean period and Labuschagne scored 20, 4 and an unbeaten 26 on the two-match tour of Sri Lanka.

The reshuffle is a significant move to fit Green — Australian cricket’s biggest investment this decade — into the side for the final.

The 26-year-old WA gun has battled in his county stint for Gloucestershire since a century on club debut.

He has now been kept to four-straight single-figure scores across his three matches at the club.

He missed the entire home season after electing to have radical back surgery in October.

Green will play in the second-division side’s four-day match against Kent from next Friday and with Northampton from May 23 before the final.

Australia must name a squad of 15 players and one reserve by Tuesday, which can then be amended until the end of the month.

It is expected a similar squad, but with two extra players — likely including second spinner Matthew Kuhnemann — will then be named for the three-Test tour of the West Indies.

The move for Labuschagne to open the batting would almost certainly leave Konstas and WA wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis as the spare batters.

Victorian batter Marcus Harris — who last played for Australia during the 2022 Ashes series — has also made an impression during his county stint with Lancashire.

Harris made 167 playing against Green’s Gloucestershire last week and rocketed to the top of the division two scoring charts with 585.