George Bailey wants more runs from Marnus Labuschagne. He said so himself. Then he picked him anyway.
Australia’s chair of selectors announced a 16-player squad for the three-Test series against South Africa starting October 9 in Durban. Labuschagne’s name was on it. Three years without a Test century, an average of 24.69 across his last 43 innings, and scores of 1, 31, and 4 against Bangladesh. None of that was enough to remove him.
“We’re not shying away from the fact that we’d like some more runs from Marn. That’s clear, but we’re also confident that he can still make a positive contribution to that squad.”
George Bailey, squad announcement, September 7, 2026
The admission matters more than the defense. Selectors rarely concede a player’s form is a problem while selecting him. Bailey did both in the same sentence.
Labuschagne’s decline is not new. His Test average sat at 64.94 in 2019. By 2023, it had dropped to 34.91. In 2024, 30.93. In 2025, 20.84. His last Test century came against England at Old Trafford in July 2023. Since then, 937 runs across more than 40 innings at 26.03. The trajectory has been one direction for three years.
A week before the Test squad announcement, Labuschagne was dropped from Australia’s ODI squad for the Zimbabwe and South Africa white-ball tours. Bailey turned that into an argument for his Test selection.
“There’s potentially a simplification or an ability to focus purely on red-ball cricket for him in the fact that he won’t be in the one-day series leading up to it.”
George Bailey, squad announcement, September 7, 2026
The logic: remove the white-ball distraction, let Labuschagne spend the ODI window preparing specifically for Test cricket in South Africa. Bailey framed the ODI omission not as a demotion but as an opportunity.
George Bailey backs under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne to come good against the Proteas 💪
Read more 👉 https://t.co/N5FTugMhKS pic.twitter.com/JGr4vIC5y1
— ICC (@ICC) September 7, 2026
What the Squad Tells You
The 16 players: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
Three new additions stand out. Cooper Connolly, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Michael Neser all earned spots. Neser, like Labuschagne, was born in South Africa. Kuhnemann’s inclusion as a second spinner alongside Nathan Lyon signals preparation for Gqeberha, where conditions historically assist slow bowlers.
Only five players in this squad have toured South Africa before: Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc, Smith, and Renshaw. Australia’s last Test series there was in 2018. That gap matters. Unfamiliar conditions, hostile crowds, pace and bounce that differ from anything in Australia.
The series carries direct World Test Championship implications. Australia leads the WTC standings with seven wins from eight matches at an 87.50 percentage. South Africa, reigning WTC champions after beating Australia in the 2025 final at Lord’s, sit second. Three Tests between first and second in the standings. The outcome shapes which teams reach The Oval in 2027.
Keeping Labuschagne means Connolly and Renshaw compete for other batting spots rather than the No. 3 position. Bailey’s batting group for this tour includes Head, Renshaw, Smith, Connolly, and Labuschagne. Five batters plus Webster and Green as all-round options for what is likely four specialist batting spots.
Labuschagne has never played a Test in South Africa, the country where he was born and spent the first ten years of his life. The personal storyline is there. Whether it translates to runs is a different question.
Insider Read
Bailey’s “simplification” argument sounds logical. It is also convenient. A batter freed from ODI duties can spend weeks in red-ball nets, refine his setup against the Kookaburra, and prepare specifically for South African pitches. That part is real. Format switching does fragment preparation at the highest level. The mental and technical shift between white-ball aggression and Test match patience is not trivial, and removing that split does help.
But a month of focused preparation does not fix what has gone wrong over three years. Labuschagne’s issues are not about distraction. His trigger movement has shortened. His front foot commitment against pace has become tentative. These are problems that showed up against Bangladesh at home, on flat Australian pitches. Durban’s pace and bounce, Gqeberha’s seam movement, Johannesburg’s altitude and carry: these conditions punish exactly those weaknesses. A No. 3 walking in at 15 for 2 in Durban needs absolute certainty in his method. Labuschagne has not shown that certainty since 2022. Bailey is betting that removing one variable, format switching, resets a player whose decline runs deeper than workload.
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