Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald has assured Marnus Labuschagne his spot is still safe despite a poor run of form.
The top order batter was the only player in the top five to miss out against Sri Lanka in the first Test, scoring 20. Labuschagne hasn’t scored a century since July 2023.
There was intrigue after a training session on Tuesday where Labuschagne didn’t bat with the main group, sparking suggestions he would be axed for the second Test in Galle.
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Despite the noise around the 30-year-old’s future, McDonald was bullish in his support.
Marnus Labuschagne speaks to Andrew McDonald. Getty
“No, not from our end,” McDonald told SEN when asked if there was any concerns.
“The top six will likely stay the same and you could probably extend that out to the top seven, I think they functioned well as a unit.
“We had a slight shift in the order of events for our training session based upon different workloads required in that main session, so there was nothing to read into that.
“We firmly believe that Marnus is a good player of spin, he’s been here before and he’s made a century at this ground also.
“With the way that the unit functioned in the first game, it’s hard to see why we wouldn’t go back there again.”
Labuschagne also had another key supporter in captain Steve Smith, with the first Test centurion backing his teammate’s performances despite the lean period.
“He’s confident. I think he’s batting well,” he told media.
“I thought he played nicely at the back end of the summer, he looked like he was putting the pressure on the bowlers a little bit more, he was proactive in the way he was playing and he looked good at the start of his innings (in the first Test) and the ball he got actually spun a fair bit from (Jeffrey) Vandersay and caught the edge.
“He’s obviously disappointed from missing out last game but he’s batting well.”
The second Test begins on Thursday afternoon (AEDT).
