Australia struggle to fill gaping opener hole left by Warner with WTC final looming

Filling the giant shoes of David Warner continues to be a headache for Australia 17 months after the bombastic Test opener retired, with Marnus Labuschagne shaping as the latest contender in the World Test Championship final against South Africa.

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Warner pulled stumps on the red-ball game in January last year after 112 Tests and 8,786 runs, long accompanied at the top of the order by Usman Khawaja.

Khawaja will open again in the blockbuster clash at Lord's starting on June 11, potentially with a fifth different partner since Warner called it quits.

Steve Smith initially plugged the hole, but only lasted four Tests before dropping back down to four and giving Nathan McSweeney a chance.

McSweeney struggled against the Jasprit Bumrah-led India late last year, with gung-ho teenager Sam Konstas then thrust into the limelight in spectacular fashion during the home series.

He scored a blazing 60 with a slew of unorthodox shots on debut, but was less effective in the next Test and was jettisoned in favour of Travis Head for their tour of Sri Lanka this year.

With Head set to revert to five, the chatter is that it's now a toss-up between Konstas, who has been working on technical aspects of his batting, and Labuschagne to open against the Proteas.