Last Updated on 4 days by Charbel Coorey
Steve Smith has revealed the words Marnus Labuschagne told him after the latter was dropped earlier this year. Before the season, Labuschagne told Smith that he would be back in the Test team for the start of the Ashes.
Fast forward a few weeks and Labuschagne is all-but certain to earn a recall. He has been outstanding for Queensland to begin the 2025/26 season, hitting two hundreds in as many Sheffield Shield games, along with two hundreds in three One Day Cup matches.
Steve Smith reveals text: Marnus Labuschagne told me he’ll be back in the Test team
“He [Marnus] said to me at the start of the summer, he goes, ‘I’ll be in that Test team come the first [Ashes] Test’. He’s backed up his words, probably. He’s obviously not selected yet, [but] he’s done a lot of things right,” Smith told reporters at Cricket Central in Sydney, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I sent him a message a couple of days ago saying how proud I was of him. He’s just gone back and he’s got his fourth hundred in five hits. It’s a pretty big statement.”
Labuschagne spoke of his mindset shift in an interview with Fox Cricket during Australia’s first ODI against India in Perth. He told Kath Loughnan that he was “trying to be too perfect” regarding his technique. This overthinking was clear in his game, often trying to survive rather than score.
“We’ve all been there [dropped] at some point in our careers and it’s difficult to hear it,” Smith said. “But I think he knew he probably wasn’t batting as well as he had been over probably four years ago when he was scoring a mountain of runs.
“I think my advice to him was ‘stop thinking so technically, just go and play the game; watch the ball and react’. I think he’s been doing that really beautifully and he’s played so nicely.”
Where Labuschagne will bat in the Ashes remains to be seen. For now, he has been recalled to Australia’s ODI squad after Cameron Green’s injury, and is a chance of featuring in the second match in Adelaide.
