His last Test appearance came against South Africa in World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final at Lords.
The race for the opening spot in Australia’s Test team for the eagerly awaited Ashes 2025 series is getting interesting with every passing day. While the 19-year-old Sam Konstas smashed a quickfire century for Australia A yesterday, prolific batter Marnus Labuschagne is proving his mettle in the domestic One Day cup, where he smashed a brisk hundred for Queensland. Leading the Queensland, the right-hand batter amassed an eye-catching 130 off 118 balls in his side’s 55-run win over formidable Victoria in the One-Day Cup clash at Allan Border Field on Wednesday (September 17).
Speaking before Queensland’s clash against Victoria, Marnus Labuschagne said he wants to follow the modus operandi adopted by former Indian stalwart Virender Sehwag of watching the ball and hitting the ball.
“Obviously Sehwag’s method was taking the ball on and just playing it. That’s an element for me,” Labuschagne told AAP. “That is where I want to get to by the start of the summer, where I am so clear and confident with my technique that there is nothing else I am thinking about apart from seeing the ball, hitting it and trusting my game and everything falling into place.”
Marnus Labuschagne is not the most stylish cricketer to watch but knows his scoring areas and where he needs to work. But his career can be divided into halves, first – from 2019 to 2022 and 2023 to till date. The right-hand batter made his debut as concussion substitute to Steve Smith and never looked back until he was dropped from the squad following the conclusion of the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025 against South Africa, which Australia lost.
From 2018 to 2022, the 31-year-old had amassed 3071 runs in just 32 matches, averaging 59.05, including 10 hundreds. And from 2023, the Queensland batter has managed just 1364 runs in 26 Tests, averaging 31, including just one century, highlighting his recent struggles. Hence, Labuschagne is keen to change his batting approach.
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The 31-year-old batter has been scoring the runs since the past months. He scored 67 Against Tasmania in a 50-over practice game and followed that up with 67 retired in a two-day match. The Queensland batter then hit a 57-ball century in T20 Max and also took a hat-trick in the final to help his side clinch the title.
Labuschagne, who enjoyed a huge success at No. 3 in the early stage of his career, didn’t play a specific role in the team. While he opened in the T20 Max, the 31-year-old batted in the middle order in the 50-over formats, though only openers place is arguably vacant. Australia have recently slotted Cameron Green in his place, but nobody hasn’t quite sealed the opening spot since David Warner’s retirement. After being dropped from the side during the West Indies Tests in July, Labuschagne has his sights set on a comeback in Ashes 2025.
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