Lehmann weighs up batting options

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has warned that batsman Usman Khawaja will need to show beyond doubt in the upcoming KFC Big Bash League that he is 100 per cent recovered from injury if he is to return for the Boxing Day Test match against the West Indies.

The coach has told the 28-year-old he must be "sharp" in his BBL|05 appearances for the Sydney Thunder ahead of the Test summer’s marquee match in order to reclaim his place in the Australia XI.

But Lehmann, a member of the four-man selection panel that yesterday added Khawaja to the squad that humbled the West Indies inside three days in Hobart, has indicated the left-hander might be considered to fill an opening berth, thereby placing Joe Burns on notice.

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Khawaja was enjoying the form of his cricket life before suffering a hamstring tear while fielding during the second Test against New Zealand in Perth, having been installed in the pivotal number three batting role and then peeling off centuries in each of the first two Tests against the Black Caps.

However, his untimely injury opened the door for fellow left-hander Shaun Marsh who seized his chance with a career-best 182 at Blundstone Arena last week and was involved in a record fourth-wicket Test partnership of 449 with Adam Voges.

WATCH: Highlights of Marsh's Test best 182

Marsh’s contribution has created a quandary for the selectors, with Lehmann conceding yesterday it would be harsh on 32-year-old Marsh – who has battled for years to nail down a place in Australia’s Test line-up – to be jettisoned once more to allow Khawaja to return.

But instead of being subbed out as a straight swap for Khawaja, there is a feeling that Marsh might retain his place with Burns – who has failed to pass 40 since posting his maiden Test century in his first match as opener against New Zealand in Brisbane – feeling the heat.

Lehmann conceded the fact that Burns has been dismissed bowled or lbw in four of his past five Test innings was an issue of concern, but one that the 26-year-old Queenslander was aware of and was working hard to correct.

Quick Single: Windies cost Burns second chance

The knowledge that Marsh has batted at every position in the top five in his 17-Test career to date, and was installed as an opener as recently as this year’s two-Test series in the Caribbean when Chris Rogers was ruled out with concussion, further adds to the debate.

WATCH: Gabriel bowls Burns with a beauty

And while Khawaja has batted at number three for a majority of his 11 Tests and first-class career thus far, he also has experience batting against the new ball for New South Wales and Queensland in both the red-ball and white-ball formats.

Which means selectors have options available to them provided Khawaja shows he is capable of operating at full pace at the crease and in the field during the two BBL matches he scheduled to play - against the Sixers on December 17 and the Stars three days later - prior to Australia’s 13-man Test squad convening in Melbourne in the days prior to Christmas.

"I would - but the captain might not want that,” Lehmann said today when asked if he was comfortable in assigning Khawaja to the role of Test opener should Burns’s tenure be ended.

"We have to work out the best six and the batting order from there.

"If he (Khawaja) comes back in, someone will miss out and we have to work out who that is.

"(Shaun Marsh) is probably more comfortable there (at number five) but if we need an opener he could play that role.

"It is probably his preferred position and where he has had the most success, but if you are in the team you will bat anywhere.

"It gets down the make-up of the side and what we go with."

No such uncertainty exists is in the immediate future of allrounder Mitchell Marsh who was under scrutiny for his lean return with the bat against New Zealand but did not get a chance to redress that at Hobart, finishing unbeaten on 1 in Australia’s only innings and claiming 1-50 from his 10 overs with the ball.

But Lehmann has guaranteed the 24-year-old will be a certain starter for his first Boxing Day Test, dismissing suggestions Australia might axe the allrounder in order to retain his older brother as well as Khawaja and Burns in the batting top-order.

"There has been talk about six batsmen and no allrounder, but we saw in the day-night test against New Zealand (in Adelaide last month) where Mitchell Starc got injured that you need the all-rounder,” Lehmann said. 

"So we will certainly play (Mitchell) Marsh."

Concerns about the workloads of the team’s fast bowlers with back-to-back Tests looming in Melbourne and Sydney were eased by the minimal resistance put up by the West Indies batsmen, dismissed twice in the space of 106.3 overs in barely a day and a half.

The quicks will be rested from the opening round of matches in BBL|05 to ensure they are refreshed for the Boxing Day and New Year Tests, with Lehmann indicating that Peter Siddle is a strong chance to retain his place ahead of Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Siddle did not enjoy the success found by fellow pacemen Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson in Hobart with match figures of 2-70 from 20 overs and occasionally dropping below 130km/h when asked to push up hill and into the stiff Tasmanian breeze.

WATCH: Pattinson ruins Windies with five wickets

But Lehmann pointed out that the 31-year-old gained no help from a benign Blundstone Arena pitch and that his experience at his home ground should be not overlooked given that Coulter-Nile has yet to play a Test for Australia.

"He played his role, that is what you expect from Peter Siddle these days," Lehmann said of the former leader of the Australia attack who has been re-cast in the role of first-change seamer.

"If there was more in the (Hobart) wicket he would have played play a bigger role – it looked green but it was pretty flat.

"Sids has a really good record at MCG and knows it well. 

"But we’ll have to make call at the time - it is two weeks away."