Australian coach Andrew McDonald has spoken out on the fact Australia need to continue bolstering their depth ahead of a three-match ODI series with New Zealand this week in Cairns.
Australia will enter the series fresh off a shock loss against Zimbabwe in the third ODI of their last series, which was played in Townsville on Saturday.
The loss didn't stop Australia from winning the series, but was an eye-opener as David Warner scored more than 90 despite the team being knocked over for 140.
The raw stats alone speak to McDonald's seeming concern over Australia's batting depth, with Cameron Green originally listed to bat as low as eight during the Zimbabwe series before Mitchell Marsh was forced out of the side with an injury.
That brought Ashton Agar into the team and reshuffled the batting order, with Australia playing an all-rounder heavy line up.
Speaking to the media, McDonald hinted that wouldn't be the case in Cairns against New Zealand, with the hope conditions would also be less abrasive thanks to 2:20pm (AEST) start times, instead of 9:40am.
"We had a forced one with Mitch Marsh, so that forced our hand a little bit," McDonald said.
"We wanted to bat deeper in the series with Cameron Green at number eight (but) it was a quick shift away from that with Marsh's injury.
"We've got Marnus (Labuschagne) and Josh Inglis sitting there waiting as extra batting.
"Also Sean Abbott, we're encouraged by what he can potentially offer as well.
"We're trying to build some depth. We've built some depth over the last couple of years.
"You'll see the balance of our team start to shift from game to game at times, just making sure that we're covering all the bases."
The first ODI against New Zealand will be played on Tuesday.
