Selectors Back Marnus Labuschagne for South Africa Test Tour
Australian selectors have doubled down on Marnus Labuschagne, backing the out‑of‑form batter for next month’s Test tour of South Africa while weighing up a potential reshuffle that could send Steve Smith back to No 3.
Chair of selectors George Bailey named a 16-man squad on Monday, retaining every player involved in the recent series win over Bangladesh in Mackay. Fast bowler Michael Neser, left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann and middle-order batter Cooper Connolly have been added for the two-Test series beginning in Durban on 9 October.
Faith in a faltering No 3
Labuschagne’s name was always going to be the flashpoint. Once the ICC’s top-ranked Test batter in 2023, he has been fighting his game and the numbers show it. His last Test hundred came in the 2023 Ashes; he averaged 25 across that campaign and followed it with scores of 1, 31 and 4 in the recent home Tests against Bangladesh.
Bailey did not pretend the situation is rosy, but he made it clear the incumbent No 3 keeps the trust of the panel.
“[We’re] not shying away from the fact that we’d like some more runs from Marn [Labuschagne], that’s clear, but we’re also confident that he can still make a positive contribution to that squad,” he said.
The selectors have stripped Labuschagne out of the one-day squad for the preceding ODI series in South Africa, leaving him to hone his red-ball game.
“Clearly, there’s potentially a simplification or an ability to focus purely on red ball cricket for him, in the fact that he won’t be in the one-day series leading up to it, so that may be a benefit,” Bailey said. “I’m not sure around that, but you know Marn, he’ll prepare incredibly well and specifically for this tour.”
The message is blunt: the position is his, but the clock is ticking.
Connolly’s chance, Inglis in the mix
Waiting in the wings is 23-year-old Cooper Connolly, whose rise has been tracked closely inside Australian cricket circles. He has played one Test, in Sri Lanka last year, and has already appeared in both T20 and ODI formats. He will be in South Africa for the ODI series as well, in a squad that notably does not include Labuschagne.
Connolly’s Sheffield Shield numbers last season were solid rather than spectacular – 216 runs at 31 for Western Australia – yet his broader first-class record hints at more. Across 13 matches, he averages 42 in the middle order.
The 32-year-old Labuschagne will be jostling for a spot with Connolly and Josh Inglis, who continues to push his claims as a multi-format option. A single warm-up match in Potchefstroom looms as a crucial audition.
That game will not just be about Labuschagne’s rhythm. It is also the window for Connolly and Inglis to force the selectors’ hand.
“There’ll be a handful of guys that cross over from the one-day series, there’s seven or eight, I think, that are coming over specifically for the Test tour,” Bailey said. “So I think partly it’ll be about just making sure that everyone’s getting the prep they need to be ready for the first Test.”
Smith, Head and the No 3 question
Behind the individual battles sits a larger structural debate. Bailey confirmed the selectors are actively considering a reshuffle that could see Travis Head moved back down the order and Smith restored to the pivotal No 3 role he occupied for much of his career.
“They’re all questions that’ll be on the table and that’s probably the consideration, isn’t it?” Bailey said.
Any move would come with a cost. Head has been a match-shaper at No 5, but he has also shown he can thrive higher up, giving Australia a surge of tempo at the top of the innings.
“Any time you do make a move, it’s what are you taking away from where they are performing, and that’s always going to be a question, particularly around Travis,” Bailey said. “The success that he had at five, but also the success he has had at the top, and what he provides to the structure of the team there.”
Smith, meanwhile, has batted at four in recent years but built a large chunk of his legend at first drop.
“I think there are always going to be considerations, Steve has batted at three for a large part of his career, hasn’t done it for a little while and has had success there, so absolutely, that’ll be a conversation at some point.”
So Australia head to South Africa with a settled squad but an unsettled top order, clinging to the belief that Labuschagne can rediscover his old certainty while leaving the door ajar for a bold reset built around Smith and Head. The warm-up in Potchefstroom will not just shape the first Test – it may define the next phase of Australia’s batting order.
