Former Australian Captain Kim Hughes urged Australian selectors to send young gun Sam Konstas home if they have no intention of playing him in the second test against Sri Lanka.
The 19-year old was forced out of the side after Australian Selectors decided to debut West Aussie Wicketkeeper-Batsman Josh Inglis, causing a major batting line up to reshuffle.
With Inglis coming in at five, all-rounder Travis Head was shoehorned into the top of the order, meaning Konstas was left sidelined for the first test in Galle.
The New South Welshman burst onto the scene against India at home and is expected to feature in the World Test Championship final against South Africa later in the year.
With the Sheffield Shield restarting on Saturday this week, Hughes is urging selectors to send him home if they do not plan to play him.
“Why have Konstas over there at all if he’s not going to open?” He said.
“Travis Head is one of the best players in the world, there’s no doubt about that, but he’s no more going to open the batting at Lords in the final the championship, or against England next summer than I have of opening the bowling.
“So why not let the youngster get in there, or send him home? There’s a Shield game starting for New South Wales or the round starting this coming Saturday.
“They’re saying he’s learning a lot in the nets and that’s a bit of fluff.”
Australia’s batting in Galle saw several outstanding innings, including 232 from Usman Khawaja, two centuries from Steve Smith and debutant Inglis and quickfire half-century from Head.
However, Labuschagne struggled to make the most of the conditions in Galle, making 20 runs off 50 deliveries.

His woes with the bat have continued after a subpar showing against India where he averaged 25.77 runs, wih a top-score of 72.
Many critics are pondering whether it’s time to omit the Queenslander from the side, given his declining test form in recent years.
Hughes agrees this could remedy the current dilemma selectors are facing.
“The fellow that is really struggling is Labuschagne,” he said.
“(He) pushed one well wide of off-stump and then nicked it through to first slip, but he’s the one that I think is really under the pump.
“Smith is obviously all fine, no dramas, Khawaja, but Labuschagne… if I was the Australian Selectors, I would have left Labuschagne out and put Konstas as the opener, and then put Travis Head as number three.
“Put him in there if they want to do that, or put Smith up to three, and then have Head and then Inglis together.”
Hughes also praised Inglis for his stellar batting performance against Sri Lanka on Test debut.
The wicketkeeper-batsman brought up 100 runs in 90 balls during his first international red ball appearance, before being dismissed four balls later on 102.
The West Aussie holds the record for the second fastest debut hundred, sitting behind India’s Shikhar Dhawan who made his century in 85 balls on debut against Australia in 2013.
However, Inglis beat the Australian record for the quickest debut century, beating Mark Waugh’s record of 100 off 126.
Hughes says he was ‘wrapped’ for the 29-year-old, attributing his outstanding innings to his wicketkeeping background.
“From the first ball in, he just stroked the ball through mid wicket for four,” he said.
“As I’ve said many times for the youngsters and coaches our there, male or female, it doesn’t matter, if you want to do something as a youngster – take up wicketkeeping or do wicketkeeping.
“It teaches you to watch the ball and Inglis showed his ability to pick the length of the ball so early and play well off the back foot against the spinners, as well as the front foot. He looked fantastic, so that was great to see.”
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