A week on from their ICC World Test Championship final defeat, Australia have made two changes, including the axe of batter Marnus Labuschagne for the first time in six years from the Test XI since he burst onto the scene.
After five scattered Test appearances, Labuschagne took to the spotlight during the 2019 Ashes at Lord’s when he came in as a concussion substitute, replacing Steve Smith who is also ruled out of the forthcoming Test in the Caribbean due to a finger injury he suffered during the WTC final.
Labuschagne had since gone on to compile 11 Test hundreds and amass over 4000 Test runs while leading the charts for Australia for the majority of the three WTC editions. However, a barren run since December 2022 had Labuschagne’s Test average take a massive dip from 60 to below 47 this year.
The 30-year-old was moved up to open the batting in the WTC final defeat to South Africa, making only 39 runs in two innings.
“Marnus at his best can be a really important member of this team. He understands his output hasn’t been at the level we, or he, expects,” Australia chairman of selectors George Bailey said in a statement.
“We will continue working with him on the areas of his game we feel he needs to rediscover. We continue to value his skill and expect him to work through the challenge positively.”
Post the WTC final loss, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald had sounded out that the team would back Labuschagne to bounce back in the Caribbean. “He’s missed out on big scores. He threatened at the MCG (when he) got a pair of 70s, and, you know, if they had been a pair of hundreds, the conversation shifts as well.
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“But we’re confident that he could return to his best and hence (that is) why we keep picking him. It is at what point do we stop picking him?”
Konstas, Inglis in
Sam Konstas who made a sprightly debut during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will take Labuschagne’s spot while Josh Inglis will replace the injured Smith after having notched up a century against Sri Lanka on debut in February.
Australia tour of West Indies schedule, squads
First Test: June 25-29, Bridgetown, Barbados
Second Test: July 3-7, St George’s, Grenada
Third Test: July 12-16, Kingston, Jamaica
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
West Indies Test squad: Roston Chase (c), Jomel Warrican (vc), Kevlon Anderson, Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales
