LONDON (AP) — Marnus Labuschagne has moved one place up the batting order to open with Usman Khawaja for Australia in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's from Wednesday.
Labuschagne's place in the team was in doubt after a lean 2023-25 WTC cycle — average 28.33 runs — but he was given another shot on Tuesday by Australia's failure to find a permanent replacement at opener for David Warner, who retired from tests in January 2024. Labuschagne will open in a test for only the second time in nine years.
“It's one spot up really. It's not too different to batting three,” captain Pat Cummins said. ”Marnus has done well here at Lord's (average 45.33) and in England in general (average 39.36).
“Opening the batting can be tough, but it can also be sometimes the best time to bat, before the Dukes ball actually starts swinging. There's an opportunity to score there, so just keeping that ball in tow I think is going to mean something.”
The 19-year-old specialist opener Sam Konstas was left out and Travis Head, preferred in Sri Lanka in February, will drop back to No. 5 in the order. Konstas was disappointed, Cummins said.
“Realistically, he's really young, he's got a long career ahead of him,” he added.
Fit-again Josh Hazlewood was picked ahead of the unlucky Scott Boland in the pace attack. Boland replaced an injured Hazlewood for the 2023 final and starred as Australia beat India by 209 runs at the Oval.
Nine of that 11 will play consecutive WTC finals.
Cameron Green will bat at No. 3 in his first test since lower spine surgery in October sidelined him for six months, and at No. 6 the two-meter-tall allrounder Beau Webster, who debuted in January against India.
South Africa gave Lungi Ngidi's experience the edge over Dane Paterson as the third seamer.
Ngidi hasn't played a test since August but 19 tests and 55 wickets, including Joe Root's at Lord's in 2022, put him in the pace attack with Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.
Paterson, more deceptive than fast, earned five-fors in his last two tests against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in December and played at Lord's three times in the last two months for Middlesex in the English County Championship second division but that wasn't enough.
“Probably one of the tougher decisions that has been made. We see what Dane Paterson did for us to the end of last season,” captain Temba Bavuma said.
“But it was more from a tactical point of view. Probably a little bit more pace from Lungi, guess he's a bit taller as well (1.93 meters to 1.75). Lungi also has a better record, not taking away anything from Patto. But I think he (Ngidi) will complement that bowling attack a little more. We have a guy like (Wiaan) Mulder, who can give us something similar like Patto.”
Mulder was chosen to bat at No. 3 ahead of Tony de Zorzi, who has more runs but hasn't bowled in a test. Mulder's handy medium pace has taken 30 wickets in 18 matches.
“It's about giving him a lot more confidence, keep backing him and just allowing him to do what he does best,” Bavuma said of Mulder. “He has an opportunity in a pressure situation, but I think he can take comfort from the fact that the guys are backing him. We just want him to play his game.”
Lineups:
South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verrynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
South Africa's Tristan Stubbs attends a nets session at Lord's, London, Tuesday June 10, 2025. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
South Africa's Lungi Ngidi attends a nets session at Lord's, London, Monday June 9, 2025. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
Australia's Marnus Labuschagne bats during a nets session at Lord's, London, Monday, June 9, 2025. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.
This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.
The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.
Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.
Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.
He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.
Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”
“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.
The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.
In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.
Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”
Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.
ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.
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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)
