Australia will have a new No.3 for next month’s first Test against New Zealand with chair of selectors George Bailey confirming that Marnus Labuschagne will not be considered for selection.
Bailey told media on Monday morning that the decision had been made after Labuschagne’s poor tour of the land of his birth, South Africa.
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He is now set to return to Queensland’s Sheffield Shield side and will have an extended run at domestic level.
“At this stage we won’t be considering Marn for selection for certainly that first Test, but for the New Zealand series,” Bailey said.
“There’s been a lot of speculation around his place in the team, and so I think this gives him a little bit of space and clears up a bit of conjecture as we work through the next round of Shield cricket.”
The former world No.1 ranked Test batter made 131 runs at 21.83 against the Proteas and finished the series with scores of 0 and 4 in the deciding Test in Cape Town.
The manner of his dismissals became more concerning as the tour went on.
He holed out into the wind after Australia was asked to follow-on and needed to bat for a little more than four sessions to salvage a draw in Gqeberha.
Labuschagne tentatively edged Simon Harmer to slip for a fifth ball duck in the first innings in Newlands.
He avoided a pair by outside edging a low full toss from Kagiso Rabada for four on the final day, but was out lbw leaving two balls later to leave Australia two down following the opening over of the innings.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said during the Top End series against Bangladesh in August that Labuschagne’s spot was “untenable”.
The Australian hierarchy kept the faith for the South African tour, but admitted they would reassess their options are going down in the series 2-1.
“We believed in Marnus for this tour, we’ll have to reassess that as we move forward,” Australian coach Andrew McDonald said.
“There’s still a very good cricketer there. Every time he drops back to state level, he outperforms the others. But he hasn’t taken his opportunity on this tour.”
Labuschagne has not scored a Test hundred since the 2023 Ashes – 49 innings ago – and the Queenslander has not made a half-century at Test level in his 16 innings – dating back to the first innings of the Gabba Test in last summer’s Ashes.
The 32-year-old was dropped from the side, but remained in the squad, during last year’s tour of the Caribbean.
He was recalled for the Ashes off the back of a run of centuries for Queensland, but has has averaged 23.66 in 10 Tests, with two fifties from 19 innings, since.
In the West Indies, Cameron Green batted at first drop, and Australia’s selectors will once again have to assess their options to walk to the crease after the fall of the first wicket.
While Bailey did not rule out Labuschagne once again fighting his way back with impressive form at state level.
“It’s still possible, absolutely,” he said. “And I think we all know how good and how effective Marnus can be at his best.
“But that performance hasn’t been there. I think he’s missed some opportunities, some promising starts in Darwin and even in South Africa as well, to go on and get a big score that we’d like and would have liked for some time, and that just hasn’t happened.
“But I don’t think we’ve ever ruled anyone out permanently … and that’s no different in this case.”
Bailey said selectors would be picking the Test squad to take on the Black Caps at the end of the next round of Sheffield Shield matches, which begin on Wednesday.
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