Marnus Labuschagne dropped as Australia name squad for Zimbabwe, South Africa ODIs

Australia have dropped Marnus Labuschagne for their upcoming ODI series against Zimbabwe and South Africa. Labuschagne has been struggling to aggregate runs for quite some time, and his Test future also hangs in the balance as Australia are set to announce their squad for the three‑match Test tour of South Africa next week.

The right‑handed batter has scored a solitary fifty in his last 16 ODI innings. His half‑century (55*) came in the second fixture of the three‑match ODI tour of Bangladesh, but it was not enough to save Australia from a series loss.

Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh make their comebacks to the ODI squad after missing the previous two tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively. Joel Davies is likely to make his ODI debut. The New South Wales allrounder bagged four wickets in three games in Bangladesh.

Selector George Bailey also touched upon the absence of Cooper Connolly from Australia A’s tour of India A.

“It’s always a tricky one,” Bailey was quoted as saying by Cricinfo. “I think [we] touched on this in the past that the opportunity versus not wanting to take away the opportunity of playing those A‑games versus not wanting to take away the opportunity to play international cricket.

“I think the three obvious ones in that boat ... Cooper, Ollie and then Joel Davies as well, I’d throw into that boat. We discussed even after the South African one‑dayers whether there was value in them heading across and continuing to play a bit more white‑ball cricket in those one‑day games [in India]. But I think where we land on that, all three of them have had some really good subcontinent exposure of late and have had multiple entries there.”

Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc have also been included in the squad, but only for the South Africa ODIs.

Australia's ODI tour of Zimbabwe 2026

Australia's ODIs vs South Africa 2026

Australia’s ODI squad for Zimbabwe and South Africa tours:  

Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins (SA only), Joel Davies, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, Oliver Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc (SA only), Adam Zampa