Labuschagne’s Test place under threat after scores of 1 and 31 in Darwin

Marnus Labuschagne‘s place in Australia’s Test side is under serious threat after he scored 1 and 31 in the first Test against Bangladesh in Darwin. Selectors met on Monday, August 17, to decide the squad for the second Test in Mackay, with both Labuschagne and opener Jake Weatherald facing scrutiny over their recent returns.

The Darwin scores extended Labuschagne’s Test century drought to 42 innings since his last hundred in July 2023. During that stretch, he has averaged 25.32 with nine fifties. He was dropped from the Test side last year against West Indies and was asked to rework his method. He responded by scoring five domestic centuries in nine innings for Queensland across Sheffield Shield and One-Day cricket at the start of last summer, earning a recall for the Ashes.

After beginning that series with two half-centuries, he has managed only 166 runs at 18.44 across his last nine Test innings, reaching 30 in three of his last four without converting any of those starts into a fifty. Australia coach Andrew McDonald acknowledged publicly that Labuschagne needed runs, regardless of the technical improvements he had shown at the crease.

“We want runs is the bottom line. I think it was 31 he got in the second innings, and up until the point he got out, you’d sit there and say he was looking good. He was moving well, he’s clipping off his pads, he was getting back through the ball down the ground. So it’s easy for me to sit here and try to defend that, but ultimately it’s 31. It’s not a big score. He’s lacked runs. He feels that. We feel that. We’re working incredibly hard as a coaching group,” McDonald said, quoted by Cricinfo.

Why does a second axing carry such weight for Labuschagne?

Labuschagne is 32 years old and has played 64 Tests. The view within Australian cricket circles is that a second omission within a year at this stage of his career would make it very difficult for him to return to Test cricket at all. That context makes the selection call more consequential than a routine form-based decision.

Australia also have a longer-term concern at No. 3. There is uncertainty about how much longer Steve Smith will continue playing Test cricket, and the team has been keen to have an experienced batter settled in that position before Smith departs. Smith has already retired from ODI cricket, which adds pressure on Labuschagne to hold his white-ball place as well. In the recent ODI series against Bangladesh, selectors chose to move Labuschagne down to No. 7 rather than drop him, with Australia’s planning for the ODI World Cup in South Africa next year a factor in that decision. McDonald addressed the public calls for change directly.

“The easy option is to call for change. A lot of people call for change even when we’re winning, so they’re entitled to do that as well on the back of a performance like that. Why wouldn’t they? That’s part of our lot. You lose the game. There’s going to be calls on some guys who aren’t performing to the levels that they would like or we would like,” he said.

Weatherald faces equal scrutiny. He scored 23 and 0 in Darwin and now averages 20.36 after 12 Test innings. He made adjustments to his setup after the Ashes to reduce his lbw risk, but those changes affected his decision-making outside off stump, leading to dismissals edging behind and chopping on, both for the first time in his Test career.

“There was some change to Jake in terms of where he lined up and his movement patterns. It’s always hard to critique small sample sizes as to whether it holds up. [He] dragged one on, drove at one in the first innings and was dismissed. It’s probably harder with that smaller sample size to say, yep, that’s going to hold up under pressure,” McDonald added.

Who could replace Labuschagne or Weatherald for the Mackay Test?

Josh Inglis is the only spare batter in the 13-man squad but has batted in the top three only six times across his first-class career. Matt Renshaw and Cooper Connolly also trained with an extended squad in Brisbane during the lead-in to the series.

Renshaw, 30, is considered the most suitable of the three for a top-three role. He averaged 49.90 in the Sheffield Shield last season, the highest average among the top 25 run-scorers, scoring three centuries in 10 innings. He has also impressed selectors with his early international white-ball form. His record at the Mackay venue is notable: he has scored 170 and 135 in two of his three Shield innings there.

Connolly, 22, scored an ODI century against Bangladesh opening the batting approximately two months ago, but he has batted in the top three only once in first-class cricket and does not have a first-class century. Sam Konstas and Campbell Kellaway both missed the CA XI game but have been working on their games during the pre-season. Both are more likely to be sent to India with Australia A in September.

“There’s always going to be calls for change on the back of a loss. There’s going to be an emotion around that from the outside and even internally. Our guys sit in that change room at the moment, and they’re feeling it. You feel a Test loss. It means a lot to them to play for Australia. So let’s not lose that in all this as well.” He added that the next selection decision would be the most important one the group makes,” McDonald said.