Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne came up with a statement century in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield, 2025/26. He was under immense pressure to perform after being dropped from the Test side and couldn’t have found a better time to remind his abilities.
Batting at No.3, Labuschagne came to the crease after the openers provided Queensland Bulls a steady start, and he ensured to keep the momentum going with a terrific ton. He showed intent to score runs right from the beginning and raced away to the three-digit mark in 154 deliveries, including 11 boundaries and a maximum.
He has had two reprieves before completing his century, one on the score of 61 and the other on 98, with the wicketkeeper Jake Doran dropping catches on both occasions. Firstly, he tickled one down the leg side, and while Doran made a diving attempt, he couldn’t grab the ball.
Then, Labuschagne went to attack the spinner Nivethan Radhakrishnan and got an outside edge, but Doran couldn’t grab it neatly and also missed the stumping chance in the process. The batter made the most of missed chances and hit an aggressive century to send a strong message to selectors ahead of Ashes 2025 selection.
Marnus Labuschagne was omitted from Australia’s Test side after the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final, where they lost to South Africa. Since then, they have tried Sam Konstas as an opener with Usman Khawaja and have given a new role to Cameron Green at No.3.
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Unfortunately, Konstas couldn’t seal his spot after showing obvious weaknesses against the moving ball and didn’t have a great start to the Sheffield Shield season either, registering scores of 4 & 14. That’s where Labuschagne can come into the mix, given he has a better technique than Konstas and the ability to survive longer.
Despite not being among the runs, he still found ways to extend his innings at times, and now he has adopted a positive approach in his batting, as confirmed by his latest century. Barring his debut Test innings, Konstas has only found runs when the surface doesn’t have enough help for bowlers, which doesn’t bode well for Australia.
The pitches in Ashes 2025 are likely to be similar to Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25, with speedsters ruling the proceedings, and Konstas might find it arduous to survive against a fiery English bowling lineup. That’s why Labuschagne will be more suitable, and he should play ahead, at least at the start of the series.
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