\u2018It\u2019s time…\u2019: Sacrifice Smith must make; great\u2019s shock next in line \u2014 Verdict on summer\u2019s Aussie XI<\/a><\/p>\nFormer Australian opener Matthew Hayden was equally concerned by Labuschagne\u2019s dramatic decline, suggesting the technical issues that have plagued his batting have continued to cost him dearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen with Marnus is a career that\u2019s been marred just in the last couple of years by the same or similar type dismissals,\u201d Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, honestly, you could probably put a package of 20 of these last 48 innings without a Test match hundred, maybe even more, maybe a higher percentage, 80% potentially, and it would be the same or similar dismissal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately for Marnus, what has made him a great player, he\u2019s somehow shifted in a direction that has made him less of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while much of the criticism has been directed at Labuschagne himself, Hayden believes the Australian selectors have also played a role in his struggles by continuing to expose him to the pressures of international cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the selectors have just, it\u2019s not their fault, but I just feel like they\u2019ve just hung him out to dry a bit as well,\u201d Hayden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like there\u2019s nothing wrong with getting dropped for an extended period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can go back without the spotlight and the pressure that inevitably Test match cricket presents you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the concerns don\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n
Run Out disaster! RSA’s nightmare blow | 04:02<\/p>\n
For James Brayshaw, Labuschagne\u2019s extraordinary run without a Test century has reached a point where his continued selection is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.<\/p>\n
\u201c48 innings now without a hundred. So if we bring that back to Sheffield Shield cricket, that\u2019s two and a half seasons,\u201d Brayshaw said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine being a number three pick to play for Queensland or, in my case, South Australia, and going two and a half years without making a first-class hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you wouldn\u2019t last. You wouldn\u2019t last to the end of the first season.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Australia preparing to welcome New Zealand for a Test series this summer, Brayshaw believes Labuschagne needs an extended period away from the national side to rediscover his best form.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just can\u2019t see how he plays that first Test. He\u2019s got to go back to Queensland and he\u2019s got to get his game back in order,\u201d Brayshaw said.<\/p>\n
Former Australian Test opener Marcus Harris also weighed in on Labuschagne\u2019s struggles, suggesting the 31-year-old has become caught up in trying to rediscover the form that once saw him average more than 60 in Test cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what you see with him is he\u2019s trying to, he\u2019s constantly trying to battle with himself to get back to that stage of when he averaged 60 in Test cricket,\u201d Harris said on SEN.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched him about last game, and he hit the ball really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s the beauty of cricket, and why it\u2019s such a good and such a bad game, is you can make one error as a batsman and you\u2019re out.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while much of the criticism has been directed at Labuschagne, there have also been some voices of support for the struggling batter.<\/p>\n
Simon Katich has come to Marnus Labuschagne\u2019s defence amid growing calls for his axing.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n
Former Australian Test batter Simon Katich sympathised with the No.3, having experienced similar struggles during his own career, while also questioning the selectors\u2019 decision to keep him in the firing line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the pressure the Australian selectors have put him under for an extended period of time,\u201d Katich said on SEN.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey deserve to be in the same situation as him here. They put him in this position by not making the decision to give him a breather. I feel for him. I\u2019ve been through it and it is not pleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cricket commentator and journalist Adam Collins also came to Labuschagne\u2019s defence, describing the situation as \u2018desperately sad\u2019 and suggesting the selectors missed an opportunity to give him an extended break from international cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel sadness for him that they didn\u2019t detect that they had to get him out of the firing line. They had the opportunity to say \u2018you\u2019re not coming to South Africa but we\u2019d love to have you fit and firing for England (in 2027)\u2018. And they could have given him a whole summer away from all of this circus.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational cricket is so highly scrutinised, whereas domestic cricket never will be. They missed their perfect opportunity. It didn\u2019t need to be this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
It all sets the stage for what could be one of the most important innings of Labuschagne\u2019s Test career.<\/p>\n
Australia need 288 runs to secure victory over South Africa and claim the series, but for the struggling No.3, there could be even more riding on the result.<\/p>\n
A big score could provide a timely reminder of the player who once dominated Test cricket, while another failure would only intensify the questions surrounding his future.<\/p>\n
And as SEN\u2019s Tom Morris put it, Labuschagne is already a \u201cdead man walking\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marnus Labuschagne will have more than just Australia\u2019s hopes of winning the third and final Test against South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-946927","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\/946927","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=946927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Marnus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/913b994b1c42638d395d90fa1ada53e3.jpeg\")
Marnus Labuschagne is under enormous pressure to retain his place in Australia\u2019s Test side.Source: AP<\/p>\n