'Will be in that team for 1st Test' — Steve Smith all but confirms Marnus Labuschagne’s Australia return for the Ashes – sportingnews.com

Mayank Bande
Marnus Labuschagne’s form in domestic cricket has come as a relief for the player and the Australian team, as they look to find solutions for their top-order woes ahead of the Ashes series starting November 21.
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Labuschagne has scored four centuries in his last five appearances for Queensland, including two tons in One Day Cup and the other two in the Sheffield Shield. It comes at a crucial time as he hopes to make a return to the Aussie Test team after being dropped for the West Indies series due to inconsistency.
Following the World Test Championship debacle in June, Labuschagne was dropped from the playing XI for the West Indies tour. Since 2024, the batter had scored just 561 runs in 24 innings at an average of 26.71.
While Sam Konstas failed to get going at the top of the order with Usman Khawaja, the new Australia number 3 Cameron Green was the third highest run-scorer in the Caribbean tour with 187 runs in 3 matches.
Labuschagne took advantage of the break, scoring 130, 2, 160, 105, 159 and 18 in his domestic outings for Queensland and is once again knocking the door of the selectors.
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Smith, who will captain Australia in the first Test with Pat Cummins ruled out addressed the press on Tuesday and confirmed that he has had a conversation with Labuschagne ahead of the Tests.
“I sent him a message to tell how proud I was of him, he’s obviously got dropped from the team and just gone back and he’s got four 100s in five hits. So, it’s a pretty big statement. He said to me at the start of the summer, he goes, “I’ll be in that test team come the first test.” And, he’s backed up his words,” said Smith.
“He’s obviously not selected yet, but he’s done a lot of things right. He can open as we saw in the the Test Championship Final, he can bat three. He’s, versatile and we’ll see where it all stands when the the team gets picked,” he added.
He further explained the thought process of a player after getting dropped out of the team and how tough it is for someone like Labuschagne, who was scoring in heaps a few years ago to go through a poor run of form.
Smith also revealed about his advice to the 31-year-old, to just watch the ball and react instead of dwelling on the form or thinking about the techincal aspects of the game — which has worked out for the Queenslander.
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With Cameron Green currently injured and only Usman Khawaja being the sure-shot starters at the top of the order ahead of the series opener, it would be interesting to see whether Labuschagne bats as an opener or number 3 in Perth.
Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney, who have opened for the Aussies in recent times will also be in contention for a spot in the top-3 alongside Tasmanian Jake Weatherald, who has been in an impressive form recently.
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Mayank Bande has been a content producer at The Sporting News since 2023 and has extensive experience in cricket writing. His work has previously appeared on platforms like OneCricket and Last Word on Sports. Beyond cricket, Mayank closely follows football as an FC Barcelona supporter, along with tennis and Olympic sports. Despite holding a degree in Business Administration, he chose to pursue a career in sports, bringing sharp analysis to his writing as someone who once played cricket.

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