It's as clear as the light of day that the Aussie selectors have no succession plan at the moment regarding who's going to be the new opening ODI partnership once Funch and Warner are gone, and are just praying that they continue to play for as long as they can. The fact that both of them will be 36 within the next couple of months are at the tail-end of their international careers means nothing to them. However, Funch's woeful form may push the matter out of the selectors' hands if he has another shocker in the last ODI on Sunday.
If this was two decades ago during the Steve Waugh era, there's absolutely no way that a soon-to-be 36 year old opening batsman would be retained in the side at either national or state level with an average of 13 over their past 13 limited-overs innings.
Also, another issue is the captaincy. If Funch goes, who replaces him? Is giving it to Cummins putting too much on his plate to deal with, or are the selectors willing to give Smithy another stint given he has past experience captaining most of the current squad? Other than Cummins or Smith, I don't know who else in the squad would be a genuine contender for the role.
