Cricket Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey has confirmed that Marnus Labuschagne, who is currently struggling for runs, will not be considered for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, with the four-Test series starting on December 13.
The squad for the Test series will be announced later, after the fourth round of the Sheffield Shield, which begins on Wednesday, concludes.
Additionally, Bailey noted that Labuschagne has been permitted to take up his captaincy responsibilities with Queensland, allowing him to play without additional pressure.
"We won't be considering Marn for selection, certainly for that first Test, but [also] for the New Zealand series. And the reason I just wanted to clear that up today is I think there's going to be, or has been, a lot of speculation around his place in the team.
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 Sheffield Shield cricket, and we'll pick the rest of that squad at the end of the completion of round four of Sheffield Shield cricket,” Bailey told reporters on Monday, as quoted by ANI.
With an average of 23.66 from 10 Tests since he made the team for the previous Ashes series, Labuschagne has scored only one half-century in the last 16 innings. His drought of not scoring a hundred started from the fourth Test of the 2023 series against England.
Bailey added that Labuschagne is one batter who, if he plays his cards right in the Sheffield Shield, will be in line for selection for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India early next year, and then the Ashes in England after that.
"It's still possible, absolutely. 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 [against Bangladesh] 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. I don't think we've ever ruled anyone out permanently to ever not be selected again, and that's no different in this,” added Bailey.
According to Bailey, there is going to be some difficulty regarding the recall of Labuschagne from domestic form, considering that in 2025, when he was recalled to the Ashes, he scored five centuries in ten innings playing for Queensland.
"He's always been an incredible performer at the first-class level. So, I expect that that'll be the case [again]. So yeah, there's no message to go back and do anything in particular. I mean, I think the currency is pretty obvious, but he's had a long run in that role, albeit with the gap during that West Indies series and post that back at domestic cricket. So, for him, I think the plan is just to go back and focus on playing as well as he can for Queensland for a period of time,” Bailey said.
(ANI inputs)
