{"id":936453,"date":"2026-10-22T03:54:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936453\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T03:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:54:29","slug":"cricket-news-2026-marnus-lacbuschagne-brain-fade-dismissal-calls-for-axing-on-horror-day-against-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936453\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: Marnus Lacbuschagne brain fade dismissal, calls for axing on horror day against South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls are growing louder for Marnus Labuschagne<\/a> to be axed from the Australian<\/a> Test side after a moment of \u201ccomplete and utter madness\u201d in South Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And as coach Andrew McDonald<\/a> spoke to media after Australia\u2019s diabolical day four with the bat in the second Test<\/a>, he admitted he simply could not defend the shot selection of the first drop in the visitors\u2019 follow-on innings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne trudges off after throwing away his wicket in Gqeberha.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

McDonald also confirmed Cameron Green<\/a> and Josh Inglis<\/a>, who have been sidelined with injury, would be \u201con the selection table\u201d for the third Test beginning next Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Australians effectively found themselves batting for a draw in Gqeberha after being skittled for 99 and then being made to follow on, a day after South Africa had declared its first innings closed at 9-425.<\/p>\n

But Labuschagne had a brain snap.<\/p>\n

Despite having patiently made his way to 39, the under-fire first drop danced down the wicket to off-spinner Simon Harmer and tried to belt him over the leg-side boundary, only to hole out to Marco Jansen.<\/p>\n

The Proteas erupted with joy, Labuschagne threw his head back, and those in the Australian dressing room licked their fleshy wounds some more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell is that?\u201d was the reaction of former Australian Test opener Simon Katich on SEN.<\/p>\n

Commentator Gerard Whateley was just as scathing.<\/p>\n

\u201cComplete and utter madness from Marnus Labuschagne,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c… He can\u2019t take advantage of the gift that he was given, and that is just daft cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brain fade laid waste to a partnership of 92 runs between Labuschagne and opener Travis Head<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Come the end of day four, Australia was four wickets down and still 171 runs short of making South Africa bat again.<\/p>\n

Australia leads the series 1-0 but is highly likely headed for a decider in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he can hang his head backwards and think he\u2019s unlucky, but you\u2019re trying to hang on for a draw, and you\u2019re trying to go down town over mid-on into the breeze?\u201d Katich said of Labuschagne.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to wonder what\u2019s going through his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labuschagne has now strung together 47 Test innings without scoring a century.<\/p>\n

While the Queenslander made a century in the tour match that preceded the ongoing Test series<\/a>, he hasn\u2019t scored a Test ton since reaching triple figures in Manchester in the 2023 Ashes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the 25 Tests he has played since his Manchester ton, he has averaged 25.34.<\/p>\n

He fell for 14 in Australia\u2019s first innings in Gqeberha, and twice made 37 in the opening Test in Durban<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He began the 2023 Ashes as No.1 in the ICC\u2019s Test batting rankings and has taken a massive fall since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like it\u2019s a one-off, because this has been going on for three years,\u201d Katich added.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne was dropped for last year\u2019s tour of the Caribbean<\/a> but fought his way back into the side on the back of blistering domestic form.<\/p>\n

Whateley reckons he may need to be dumped again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think if Australia lose this Test match, he has to be dropped now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as a matter of principle, we cannot tolerate this from our senior players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katich continued to vent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, how many players in the history of Australian cricket have been given this many opportunities without scoring a hundred?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day, you were lucky if you didn\u2019t get dropped after missing out 10 times, let alone nearly 50.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonald was visibly frustrated, both with Labuschagne\u2019s dismissal and the dire position Australia is in heading into day five.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you saw what we saw,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the option\u2019s there if the ball\u2019s in the right area. It is a strength of his.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in that scenario, there\u2019s probably some shots that players could take back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anrich Nortje (right) celebrates taking the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne in Australia\u2019s first dig in Gqeberha.\u00a0AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a lot of hard work once again, and I think it feels like I\u2019m on repeat around the amount of 30s that he has got. You\u2019d say that\u2019s been a danger period for him.<\/p>\n

\u201c… There was some bad error there. I think we are better than that. But as it sits right now, I can\u2019t defend that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green has been dealing with an abdominal strain and Inglis a broken finger, but they are fit again and applying pressure on some of the incumbents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll be on the selection table for Cape Town, but I don\u2019t want to talk selection at this presser,\u201d McDonald laughed.<\/p>\n

Another player who could be back in the Test selection frame \u2013 not for the Cape Town match, but the Australian summer and next year\u2019s tours of India and the UK \u2013 is 21-year-old Sam Konstas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The exiled Test opener struck an unbeaten 151 for NSW against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield at the WACA this week, having already made 71 in the Blues\u2019 first innings.<\/p>\n

David Warner<\/a> took to social media on Wednesday night to float the possibility of Konstas batting at No.3 for Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calls are growing louder for Marnus Labuschagne to be axed from the Australian Test side after a moment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-936453","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\/936453","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=936453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}