Marnus Labuschagne to not be selected for New Zealand Test series: George Bailey

Marnus Labuschagne will not be considered for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, Australia's chair of selectors George Bailey has confirmed. Labuschagne has been enduring a poor run in Tests over the past three years, as he scored his last century in July 2023.

He recently had another poor series in South Africa, scoring 131 runs from six innings as Australia lost the three-match series 1-2. Labuschagne will return to Sheffield Shield, where he will lead Queensland.

"We won't be considering Marn for selection certainly for that first Test, but [also] for the New Zealand series. And the reason I just wanted to clear that up today is I think there's going to be or has been a lot of speculation around his place in the team,” said Bailey.

"So I think this gives him a little bit of space and clears up a bit of conjecture as we work through the next round of Shield cricket, and we'll pick the rest of that squad at the end of the completion of round four of Sheffield Shield,” he added.

Since scoring his last Test century against England in Manchester, Labuschagne has scored 1094 runs from 49 innings at an average of 24.31 with nine fifties. He hasn’t scored a half-century in his last 16 innings. His dismal form has also seen his career average drop from 59.05 in 2022 to 42.64. 

Marnus missed promising starts in South Africa: Bailey

However, Bailey didn’t rule out the possibility of Labuschagne making a comeback into the team for tours of India and England in 2027.

"It's still possible, absolutely. And I think we all know how good and how effective Marnus can be at his best. But that performance hasn't been there. I think he's missed some opportunities, some promising starts in Darwin [against Bangladesh] and even in South Africa as well to go on and get a big score that we'd like and would have liked for some time and that just hasn't happened. I don't think we've ever ruled anyone out permanently to ever not be selected again, and that's no different in this,” said Bailey.

Australia will take on New Zealand in a four-match Test series, beginning on December 9 in Perth. The squad for the first Test will be announced after the fourth round of the Shield.