Labuschagne Retained for South Africa Tests as Selectors Back the Under-Fire No.3
Marnus Labuschagne has kept his place in Australia's Test squad for the three-match tour of South Africa starting in Durban on 9 October, surviving a lean run that has seen him dropped from the one-day side entirely.
Selectors named a 16-player squad on Monday, retaining every player involved in Australia's recent Test win over Bangladesh in Mackay while adding Michael Neser, Matthew Kuhnemann and Cooper Connolly as cover for a condensed series that follows six one-day internationals with short turnarounds between matches The Guardian.
The squad: Pat Cumkins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Beau Webster.
For Labuschagne, the call is a show of faith from a selection panel that could easily have pointed to the scorecard. The 32-year-old managed 1, 31 and 4 across the Bangladesh Tests, bowled for 4 by Shoriful Islam in one innings The Guardian. His last Test hundred came in the 2023 Ashes — more than two years ago. That is a long drought for a player who sat atop the ICC's Test batting rankings that same year The Guardian.
The picture in the 50-over format is starker. Labuschagne was dropped from Australia's ODI squad for the back-to-back tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa, with Reuters and Cricinfo both reporting the omission in late August Reuters. The one-day squad included uncapped pair Josh Peake and Sam Davies but left no room for the man who once owned the No.3 position across formats.
Chair of selectors George Bailey said the Test squad's size reflects the schedule: three Tests packed in after six ODIs, with limited recovery time. "The squad provides balance and options for each Test," Bailey said The Guardian.
Among the additions, Connolly is the most intriguing. At 23, he has played a single Test — in Sri Lanka last year — alongside limited-overs appearances. A left-handed middle-order batter, he averages 42 across 13 first-class matches and scored 216 runs at 31 for Western Australia in last season's Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class competition The Guardian. He was also named in the ODI squad for South Africa, a tour that notably left Labuschagne out.
Labuschagne will now compete with Inglis and Connolly for a place in the Test XI. That internal contest may matter as much as anything South Africa throw at Australia. Neser, a seam-bowling allrounder, and Kuhnemann, a left-arm spinner, give Bailey flexible bowling options depending on conditions.
The South Africa series opens a heavy summer of red-ball cricket for Australia, with Test series against New Zealand and India to follow. For Labuschagne, Durban on 9 October is not just another match. It is the next chance to turn form into runs — and to quieten the questions that have been building since his last hundred.
Labuschagne has reportedly planned to trial a reconfigured thigh pad on tour, a small adjustment after his dismissal in Mackay prompted technical reflection Cricket.com.au. Whether a tweak to equipment can unlock a return to the run-scoring rhythm that once made him the world's top-ranked Test batter is the subplot Australia carry into Durban.
