{"id":226682,"date":"2025-10-20T04:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T04:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226682\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T04:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T04:55:11","slug":"ian-healys-vote-of-confidence-for-marnus-labuschagne-ahead-of-ashes-test-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226682\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Healy’s vote of confidence for Marnus Labuschagne ahead of Ashes Test matches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> admits he is feeling confident heading into the summer after tweaks he’s made to his game have paid off over the past month. <\/p>\n

The 31-year-old has made two hundreds from three innings in the Sheffield Shield<\/a> to go with two hundreds in the domestic one-day cup in a blistering start to the season and has put his hand up for an Ashes recall.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne was dropped from the Australian Test<\/a> XI before the Test tour of the West Indies<\/a> in July, following a tough run of form.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Currency is low’: Humbling TV job could be next for Ange<\/a><\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Legend’s timely warning as Konstas flaws laid bare<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Marnus<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The Queenslander hadn’t made a Test ton in his last 28 innings, but has grabbed the opportunity to refresh and find his feet in the Sheffield Shield.<\/p>\n

He has made 337 runs at an average of 112.33 so far in the tournament. <\/p>\n

The Australian top order is as shaky as it has been this century<\/a>, with no certainty over the top three a month out from the Perth Test.<\/p>\n

Selectors have made it clear that runs in the Sheffield Shield will be key, and Labuschagne has done just that.<\/p>\n

“It’s always nice when you’re scoring runs,” Labuschagne told Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n

“The only thing I really wanted coming into this summer, take everything out, selections, everything else, I just wanted to be back playing cricket the way I want to be playing, playing with that freedom. It’s nice to have come out and started the way I have.<\/p>\n

“Coming into this summer, runs was going to be the currency and that was probably the big focus point. It doesn’t matter how you score them or what it looks like, just find a way to keep scoring runs.<\/p>\n

“Since then, my technique moulded into whatever the game needs.”<\/p>\n

\"Marnus<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne of the Queensland Bulls celebrates bringing up his century.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He was asked directly about the potential of an Ashes recall, but was coy with his response.<\/p>\n

“I always just kept telling myself if I’m playing at my best, (selection) takes care of itself,” Labuschagne said.<\/p>\n

Fellow Queenslander and great of Australian cricket Ian Healy believes Labuschagne’s best spot might just be opening alongside Usman Khawaja<\/a>, rather than batting at three.<\/p>\n

“I’m very happy with Marnus’ form, he’s back,” Healy told SEN.<\/p>\n

“Marnus can open and he’s happy to go wherever selectors want him. I’ve got him at one and Khawaja at two. Konstas comes in when Uzzie retires.”<\/p>\n

Sam Konstas<\/a>, Jake Weatherald and Matt Renshaw are the others in the mix for spots in the top three, alongside Khawaja, Labuschagne and potentially Cam Green, depending on where he slots in.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne provided some insight into what he has tweaked since his omission.<\/p>\n

“There’s a few technical things that I’ve ironed out of my game and had a bit of time to work on,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“(I was) getting too deep into my technique and trying to be too perfect instead of just playing with what I’ve got – just going out there, reading the game and then using my technique to adjust to whatever they’re bowling and how they’re trying to attack me.”<\/p>\n

Labuschagne’s next opportunity to make some runs will come on October 28 when Queensland hosts New South Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marnus Labuschagne admits he is feeling confident heading into the summer after tweaks he’s made to his game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-226682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}