SEN Cricket Adam White believes Australia’s selectors have three realistic options for the vacancy at the top of the Test order.

With Cameron Green injured for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Steve Smith returning to number four, the selectors are looking for a batter to partner Usman Khawaja at the top of the order.

Names like Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas have been mentioned as notable opening options, but White believes there is another name the nation can turn to.

Despite having Harris as his opening pick, White believes the second-best option at the top could be New South Wales fly-half Nic Maddinson.

Maddinson, 32, started alongside Harris for Victoria in recent campaigns but has since returned to his home state.

White believes the left-hander fits the list of players the selectors could be looking for.

“I think they have three options,” White said SEN sports day.

“One is Marcus Harris, I think, or Nic Maddinson who opens the batting.

“Marcus Harris is the one who is in good form to start this year, he has been there before and has already proven he can score runs against India.

“Then there’s Nic Maddinson because he fits the prototype in the sense that he can take on fast bowling and score quickly – which is one of the things they were looking for.

“He also played for Australia before, and if you look at what he did over a three or four year period for Victoria, he regularly scored big runs at Sheffield Shield level.”

The other, more radical option White believes selectors should consider is opening Marnus Labuschagne, allowing Australia A captain Nathan McSweeney to slot in at number three.

White considers McSweeney to be Australia’s best batsman and is not currently a member of the Test team, with the main problem being that he is not batting at the top of his state’s order.

“The other option is for Marnus Labuschagne to open the batting and for Nathan McSweeney to come in and bat at number three,” White said.

“I think he is the best batsman who is not currently in the Australian team, but it would require a reshuffle of the order because we know Steve Smith is going to bat at four and we know Travis Head is going to bat at five.

“I think these are the three most realistic options at this point.

“But the selectors are not selecting the team today. They still have the Australian Serie A to start with…they can do well there, I’d go for whoever does well.

“If no one is doing well, then you look at the entire body of work over a period of time. That’s why I think they’ll probably go back to Harris.

Australia A will face India A in a two-match series in the coming weeks, with the matches taking place in Mackay and Melbourne.