On Saturday Cameron Green faced the new ball against Michael Neser<\/a> when about the handful of Australians to use the optional training session.<\/p>\nMatt Renshaw, Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon were the others involved in that session.<\/p>\n
Uzzie backs Kuhnemann for Cape Town | 03:28<\/p>\n
Prior to training, Carey spoke to the travelling press pack and noted the frustration that had placed Labuschagne\u2019s career at risk, notably his propensity to get out after getting a start. He has not scored a Test century in his last 47 innings.<\/p>\n
One the world\u2019s top-ranked Test batsman, he has made six scores between 30 and 49 in his last nine innings without going on to nail the big score that would have eased frustration and speculation about his spot in the Australian team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we all know Marn and (have) spoken a bit about him in the past, and you know his 30s have been frustrating for him in the way that he\u2019s been playing so well to that point,\u201d Carey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the game of cricket. You can\u2019t give an inch any time, and he\u2019s really hungry, and understanding that his role is to go on and convert those runs. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, again, (he has to) keep doing what he\u2019s doing, but do it for longer. That is what he\u2019s thinking as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a rarity under the current set up for the Australian Test team for there to be so many moving pieces, particularly given the series is still alive.<\/p>\n
While Green looks a certainty to return in place of Nic Maddinson, who did spend time in the nets on Sunday, Josh Inglis shapes as a prospect to come into the team in place of Labuschagne.<\/p>\n
Victorian Sam Harper, who enjoyed a stellar Sheffield Shield season at the top of the order, also spent a significant amount of time practicing his fielding with the wicketkeeper gloves on.<\/p>\n
Smith, meanwhile, had a lengthy chat with Di Venuto after his session in the nets, the angle of the bat face.<\/p>\n
Labuschagne facing selection pressure | 01:25<\/p>\n
After his lengthy discussing with McDonald and Labuschagne, with captain Pat Cummins joint the group for a period, before walking laps of the ground while mucking around with a Sherrin, opting against a session in the middle.<\/p>\n
Smith, who is returning to the scene of the Sandpapergate scandal eight years ago, was struck on the head and assessed for concussion in Durban and then had a neck issue in Gqeberha which hindered him when at the crease in his first innings.<\/p>\n
Similarly to Labuschagne, who fell to a brain fade when trying to loft Simon Harmer out of the ground while hitting into a strong gale, Smith played a poor shot to fall to Kagiso Rabada.<\/p>\n
But Carey said the Australian superstar is fine and looking forward to the challenge in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve, he\u2019s going well. (I have) spent a lot of time with him, as I always do, and he\u2019ll start prepping for Tuesday today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll have a hit. I think he\u2019s 100 per cent fine. So (I\u2019m) looking forward to seeing Steve get out there and play and hopefully score the big runs we\u2019ve seen him do. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a couple of starts. He was impacted a little bit with his neck, but he\u2019s ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Intrigue has deepened into Marnus Labuschagne\u2019s hold on an Australian Test spot with the under-fire No.3 not in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-940365","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\/940365","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=940365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Marnus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/e4387b20e52478364de045853a07c43e.jpeg\")
Marnus Labuschagne didn’t bat for a long period of Australia’s session on Sunday. Photo via @BenCameron23Source: Supplied<\/p>\n