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A resurgent Marnus Labuschagne scored his fourth century in five innings to further press his case for a recall to Australia’s side for the Ashes.
The 31-year-old batter scored 159 on day two of Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match against South Australia, which follows scores of 130 and 105 in Australia’s domestic 50-over competition and 160 in the previous round of red-ball matches.
Labuschagne, who has scored 11 hundreds in 58 Tests, was dropped for Australia’s three-Test series against West Indies this summer after a poor run of form.
He has not scored a Test century since the fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes – a run of 30 innings across which he averages 24.74.
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26 November 2024
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A return to form for Labuschagne would not entirely solve the issues Australia have around their batting line-up for the first Test against England at Perth on 21 November.
He was pushed up to open in his most recent Test – the World Test Championship final defeat by South Africa in which he returned scores of 17 and 22 – but has been batting at his previous position of number three for Queensland.
Were he to return at number three, the position he has scored all of his Test hundreds, Australia would still be looking for at least one opener.
Twenty-year-old Sam Konstas played in West Indies but managed only 50 runs across six innings. Though he scored a century for Australia A in India last month he has not passed 50 in four innings in domestic cricket this season and was dismissed by Scott Boland for a four-ball duck on Wednesday.
Tasmania’s uncapped opener Jake Weatherald, 30, scored a 99-ball 94 on day two of a low-scoring match against Western Australia on Thursday to push his case.
If Labuschagne returned as an opener then it would allow Australia to pick Cameron Green at number three and retain fellow all-rounder Beau Webster in the middle order, though Green only has one fifty in eight innings in that position since being pushed up the order for the Test final against South Africa.
Webster is currently out with an ankle injury but Green is in Australia’s squad for the three-match one-day international series against India which begins on Sunday.
The Ashes: Australia v England
21 November 2025 – 7 January 2026
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