Marnus cops brutal new blow after Aussie great calls for his Test final axing

Yahoo

24-05-2025

Marnus Labuschagne has squandered another opportunity to prove to selectors that he deserves a spot in Australia's World Test Championship final after being dismissed cheaply for Welsh county side, Glamorgan. Australia's Test No.3 has faced growing calls to be axed for next month's showpiece red-ball final against South Africa at Lord's, with Aussie great Damien Fleming the latest to suggest he should be replaced by young gun, Sam Konstas.
And Labuschagne did little to change the opinion of critics after falling for his third mediocre score for Glamorgan when he was dismissed for 23 against Middlesex. The 30-year-old had two matches with his Welsh county to completely nail down his place in Australia's WTC final side, and now has just one more innings to do so after his latest failure.
The former No.1-ranked Test batter came in at No.3 for his county side but was caught out edging to slips, in what has become an all-too familiar mode of dismissal for the veteran. It was the same way Labuschagne was out against Northamptonshire last week when he fell for 0 and four and it ended an uncomfortable 63-minute stay at the crease that included four boundaries.
🎥 | WICKET WATCH Higgo has his first 💪 #OneMiddlesex pic.twitter.com/TdAzXultqt
— Middlesex Cricket (@Middlesex_CCC) May 23, 2025
Labuschagne's missed opportunity was compounded by a 228-run stand from his teammates Sam Northeast and Kiran Carlson, who were the next batters in. The pair helped Glamorgan finish day one on 7-334. Labuschagne has 11 Test centuries to his name and will hope he has enough runs in the bank to secure his spot in the WTC final for Australia.
But his form in the last couple of years has been a major concern, with Labuschagne only averaging 25.36 with the bat across the summer, after disappointing Test series against India and Sri Lanka. That came after an equally underwhelming previous year for Labuschagne, where he averaged just 27.08 across the summer of 2023/24. And the 30-year-old only managed scores of 23, 0 and 61 in his three Sheffield Shield innings for Queensland after those Test series.
Cameron Green is widely expected to return to Australia's Test side at No.4 after impressing in his return from a long-term back injury. The 25-year-old scored 67 not out (off 90 balls) to help steer English county side Gloucestershire to a tense three-wicket victory over Kent last week, following a century in the first innings. Green also scored another century on his county debut for Gloucestershire, also against Kent.
Green is likely to slot back into the No.4 role for Australia, with Steve Smith shifting up one spot to No.3. Aussie selectors have reportedly been leaning towards promoting Labuschagne to opener and overlooking young gun Konstas, who made a stunning Test debut in the series victory over India, before being left out of the Test tour of Sri Lanka.
But former Aussie Test bowler Fleming reckons selectors need to make a bold call by axing Labuschagne for the WTC final and backing Konstas at opener. 'My gut feeling is that they'll stick with Marnus but I would actually go with Konstas,' said Fleming, who will cover the WTC final for SEN radio.
'I want Konstas to open in the Ashes, so to get a Test final, which is pretty extreme pressure against (Kagiso) Rabada, (Lungi) Ngidi, (Marco) Jansen and co. But in his four innings so far he's had (Jasprit) Bumrah bowling, so it's not as if he hasn't faced the best at Test level already.
'What I like about Konstas is his scoring rate, we saw early in the Indian series when Nathan McSweeney was opening with Usman and Marnus at No.3, at times they battled really hard, but if they lost one or two the scoreboard was nowhere.' That was in stark contrast to Konstas, who took the attack to the world's best bowler Bumrah in an unforgettable debut Test half century on Boxing Day.
Fleming said Konstas' flashy debut innings and 'even his little cameos' allowed Khawaja to settle in and build his innings, and questioned whether Labuschagne could do the same at the top of the order. 'Dave Warner was doing that for us for many years, (Virender) Sehwag did it for India, (Chris) Gayle for the West Indies – I mean everyone is doing it in 'Bazball'.
'The more he plays, hopefully he finds that tempo between T20 innovation and just orthodox cricket, which he looks like he is orthodox but he does have genuine power. I think he will end up a big, strong boy. Yes, it's a World Test Championship final, but I think I would be going with Konstas and Usman.'
with AAP