Tubby's wish for Marnus before Aussie batting shake-up

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes it should’ve been Marnus Labuschagne moving up the order, not Steve Smith, as the former looks to dig himself out of a form slump.

Smith is also searching for a significant score, having not hit a century since his 110 against England at Lord’s in June.

The 34-year-old made the switch to opener in mid-January after the retirement of David Warner with his highest score of 91 not out from seven innings’ at the top.

Smith’s move allowed generational talent Cameron Green to return at No.4 with the all-rounder hitting a sensational 174 not out in the first Test against New Zealand.

Marnus Labuschagne walks off The Basin in Wellington after being dismissed.

While Smith has shown signs of promise at the top of the order, he was dismissed for 31 and a duck in the first Test while Labuschagne hasn’t scored a century since July and is averaging 24 this year.

Taylor applauded Smith’s decision to move up the order but believes Labuschagne would have been better suited.

“I like the fact Steve Smith put his hand up and said ‘I want to be the opener, I’m going to be the one to move up the order because we want to get Cameron Green in the side’ and that’s been a great call really to get Cameron Green in because he made 174 not out in this Test match,” he said on Nine’s Wide World of Sports.

“I would’ve liked to have seen Labuschagne move up to open the batting because Steve Smith has been our best player and is our best player for the last decade so I would’ve liked to have seen Steve stay where he was and Marnus to move up but Marnus was less keen.

“Smith said he’d do it and moved up, and it’s a good move for the team and I think eventually it’ll be a good move for Australia. Although our lower to middle order needs to do a little bit of work.”

Smith’s move to the top of the order came with plenty of controversy, as former players called for Cameron Bancroft to be recalled considering his prolific Sheffield Shield form.

However, the decision to reshuffle the order was preferred and Taylor believes there’ll be no going back from Smith’s switch.

“I think Smithy is looking for a new challenge,” he said.

“He’s got almost 10,000 Test match runs and I’ve just thought over the last year, 18 months, he hasn’t looked quite at his best.

“I’m not sure he’ll want to move back down because it’ll be admitting defeat that it hasn’t worked and don’t forget in the last Test match at the Gabba he made 91 in the last innings.”