Marnus Labuschagne has been dropped from Australia’s Test side, with selectors ruling him out of the four-Test series against New Zealand that starts in Perth on 9 December.
Selection chair George Bailey confirmed the call on Monday, making it the second time in 17 months that Labuschagne has lost his Test spot, cricket.com.au reported.
“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 32-year-old struggled on last month’s tour of South Africa, making 0, 4, 14, 39, 37 and 37 for an average of 21.83, ABC Sport reported via AAP.
That run stretched his wait for a Test century to 49 innings. His last Test hundred came in the 2023 Ashes.
Read more: Australia Crash to 111 as South Africa Win Cape Town Test
Since being left out for the three-Test tour of the West Indies last year, Labuschagne has averaged 23.66 across 10 Tests, with two fifties from 19 innings, according to cricket.com.au.
Door left open for India and England
Bailey said a recall was still possible for next year’s tours of India and England.
Read more: Marnus Labuschagne Hits 76-Ball Ton as Green Doubt Grows
“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.”
Labuschagne will return to captain Queensland in the Sheffield Shield as he tries to rebuild his form.
What happens next
Selectors will name the rest of the squad for the New Zealand series after the next round of the Sheffield Shield, which starts on Wednesday, cricket.com.au reported.
Steve Smith is expected to return after missing the Cape Town Test with a neck injury.
The series opens at Perth Stadium on 9 December, before Tests at Adelaide Oval from 17 December, the MCG from 26 December and the SCG from 4 January.
At his peak, Labuschagne scored 10 centuries in 36 innings between November 2019 and December 2022 and rose to No.1 in the ICC Test batting rankings. His Test average has since fallen from 60.82 after 30 Tests to 42.64 after 68.
More News
