Last Updated on 18 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Marnus Labuschagne’s position in both Australia’s Test and ODI teams is up for debate, but coach Andrew McDonald has backed the out-of-form batsman to rediscover his best touch.
In an interview with cricket.com.au, McDonald revealed why Australia opted to bat Labuschagne at number seven in the second ODI against Bangladesh earlier this month. He also spoke about the greater expectations the management has of him given the substandard returns in recent years, admitting there are question marks over whether the batter will make Australia’s best World Cup XI next year.
Andrew McDonald on where Marnus Labuschagne stands in Tests and ODIs
Australia lost three wickets without a run on the board in a hastening ODI against the Tigers in Mirpur. The visitors were then five down in the 18th over when Labuschagne came out to the middle. He scored an unbeaten 55.
“We dropped him down to seven (in Bangladesh). We got somewhat of a response there,” McDonald said. “Do we like having to put him down that low in that team? No – we’d like to think that one of our more experienced players would be sort of bolted on near the top there and navigating through the challenges of the top order.
“But it wasn’t to be, and we made the decision to drop him down, change his role to hopefully get a little bit of a response. We got that. Then in the final innings (third ODI against Bangladesh) he was looking good again before he went to lay one off.”
McDonald also said Labuschagne’s indifferent white-ball form has no bearing on his Test spot. However, Australia’s number three has not scored a Test century since the fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes, some 38 innings ago. He averages 26.5 in this period.
“Totally different formats,” McDonald said. “Would it be nicer if he was making runs in one-day cricket going into a Test series? Yeah – there’s that old adage that ‘runs are runs’.”
The Australia coach spoke of the promise he saw in Labuschagne’s batting during the 2025/26 Ashes, despite finishing with an average of just 28.77 in the series. There were some difficult batting conditions, so Labuschagne would have been frustrated not to build on his starts of 48 and 37 on a flatter SCG pitch in the fifth Test. Nonetheless, McDonald saw positive signs.
“We saw him finish off last summer the way that we wanted him to, in Sydney and the way he started that Ashes series in Perth. So if you look at the bookends of last summer for Marnus, in terms of Test cricket, it was excellent, and you look at the front-end of the summer domestically in red-ball cricket, it was more of what we’d like to see.
“So there’s a very good player in amongst all of that. Our job is to work with him to bring out the best in his game, and we still think it’s there.”
Labuschagne’s worriesome form in Tests and ODIs
To go with his shaky Test form, Labuschagne has also struggled in ODIs. Since his crucial unbeaten half-century in the 2023 World Cup Final, the right-hander has managed just 350 runs in 18 ODIs at an average of 21.9. His strike rate, in the low 90s at the early point of his career, has dropped to 74.9 in this period.
“He hasn’t got the runs he’d like,” said McDonald. “He needs to deliver more. It’s one of those ones where you don’t want to be having those types of conversations around your more experienced players on tour. It was unfortunate.
“I still think he’s a good player. My view on ‘Marn’ is, at his best, he’s a player that you want in your team. The energy he brings, especially in a world where you need overs and that fielding dynamic is fundamentally important.”
However, McDonald admitted that Labuschagne’s spot is not cemented for the World Cup. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head will partner up at the top, with Cooper Connolly stamping his claim with an outstanding 149 in the final ODI against Bangladesh.
“He’s [Labuschagne] a player that we want to see performing and get to a World Cup. But there’s no doubt there’ll be question marks,” McDonald said.
“Our job is to get the best out of him, and the shift down to seven was to see whether we could get some runs under his belt, put a bit of confidence back into him, and then push him back up the order.
“Was that the right thing to do? Time will tell.”
