Australia have axed Marnus Labuschagne for the home Test series against New Zealand, with selection chair George Bailey confirming on Monday that the former world No. 1 batter will not be considered for any part of the four-match series.
“At this stage we won’t be considering Marn for selection for certainly that first Test, but for the New Zealand series,” Bailey told cricket.com.au, ending weeks of speculation over the No. 3 spot.
It is a brutal but hardly surprising call. Labuschagne has now gone 49 innings without a Test century, a drought stretching back to his hundred in the 2023 Ashes at Manchester. His highest score on the recent tour of South Africa was just 39, and he managed only 131 runs at 21.83 across the three Tests, finishing with scores of 0 and 4 in the deciding Test in Cape Town as Australia lost the match and the series 2-1.
Since returning to the side for the 2025 Ashes, the 32-year-old has averaged 23.66 across 10 Tests and has not made a half-century in his past 16 Test innings. Once ranked the world’s top Test batter, he now sits 40th in the ICC rankings after 68 Tests.
This is the second time in 17 months that the axe has fallen on Labuschagne. He was dropped during last year’s tour of the Caribbean, though he stayed in the squad, and responded in the best way possible by scoring five centuries in ten domestic innings for Queensland across formats to force his way back for the Ashes. The runs have not followed at Test level, and the selectors have now decided they cannot wait any longer.
Labuschagne will return to captain Queensland in the Sheffield Shield, and Bailey left the door open for a recall if he scores heavily at domestic level. Australia’s schedule after the New Zealand series includes a five-Test tour of India and an away Ashes series next year, and Bailey indicated those trips remain within reach for a batter who has always scored heavily in first-class cricket.
The immediate question is who bats at No. 3 when the first Test begins in Perth on December 9. Steve Smith has been tipped to move up from four to fill the gap, with the squad to be named after the next round of Sheffield Shield matches, which begin on Wednesday.
For Labuschagne, the message is clear. He has been given chances, backed publicly by coach Andrew McDonald through the South Africa tour, and given a full home Ashes to rediscover his best. The runs never came. Now he must do what he did last time: go back to Queensland, pile up the runs, and make the selectors pick him again.
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