Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nThe innings comes at a vital time for the fallen star, who has averaged just 24.69 since his last Test century in July 2023, including a trio of failures in Australia\u2019s recent series against Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
However, the knock comes with several caveats.<\/p>\n
In perfect batting conditions, Australia were untroubled in racking up 6\/368 from 74 overs on the second day of the two-day match, with three of those wickets, Labuschagne\u2019s included, retirements.<\/p>\n
The CSA XI bowling attack was also far removed from what the tourists will face against the Proteas in Durban in the first Test starting on Friday evening (AEST).<\/p>\n
A brief raise of the bat from the Queenslander to acknowledge the milestone summed up where the innings ranks among his career accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, with Cameron Green in grave doubt after missing the tour match with the abdominal injury sustained in Australia\u2019s third ODI against the Proteas last week, any sign Labuschagne\u2019s form is picking up will gladden selectors\u2019 hearts.<\/p>\n
As would have Matt Renshaw\u2019s presence at the top of the order, having not fielded on Day 1 of the match to avoid aggravating a wrist injury sustained alongside Green\u2019s in the ODI series.<\/p>\n
Renshaw made a steady 32 opening alongside Travis Head (22 off 21) before edging Christoper King behind, with his presence virtually guaranteeing him a spot at the top of the order in the first Test.<\/p>\n
Steve Smith and Alex Carey each hit half-centuries as the match turned into a glorified net session, while Beau Webster managed 42 \u2013 albeit off 88 balls \u2013 before retiring.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s relaxed attitude to the match was summed up by some trademark antics in between balls, including some more work on his putting game \u2013 a repeat of a similar incident in the Bangladesh series in August.<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s availability is set to mark the only change to the Australian XI that thrashed the Tigers by an innings in Mackay, with Cooper Connolly (20 not out from 23 balls) and new squad additions Nic Maddinson and Sam Harper set to vie for the all-rounder\u2019s spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marnus Labuschagne has all but confirmed his place at No. 3 for the first Test against South Africa,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,85],"class_list":["post-916595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916595","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=916595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791175576_376_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n