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Australian coach Andrew McDonald is adamant there isn’t “any great concern” with Marnus Labuschagne’s ongoing form slump, declaring his short second-innings stay in Wellington provided hope of an end in sight.
After Australia achieved a comprehensive opening Test win over New Zealand in Wellington, Labuschagne was given the backing of captain Pat Cummins despite making just three runs in two innings, which dropped the Queenslander’s batting average below 50 for the first time since 2019.
Labuschagne has made just a single century in his past 20 Tests and four consecutive single figure scores across his last four bats.
It’s a slump of significant concern given Steve Smith is still adapting to opening the batting and Travis Head at No. 5 is also waning after a monster 2023.
But while McDonald said he and the coaching staff were aware of Labuschagne’s lack of output, change was not at the forefront of their minds, also buoyed by the “energy” the batter showed in the second innings when he faced 13 balls for two runs at The Basin Reserve.
The second Test against the Kiwis, which starts on Friday, is the last five-day match before Australia takes on India in December.
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“I don’t think there’s any great concern from our point of view,” McDonald said.
“Can he perform better? No doubt about that. Does he know that he knows that? Is he working on it? Yes.
“I said this last week. I said it a couple of weeks ago as well, but over time, there’s going to be some ebbs and flows in your career.
“And I thought in the second innings, and this is really hard to sort of quantify, but I thought the intent, the energy he brought to the crease, and it was only two runs, I don’t want to get carried away with two runs, but that’s what we see when he’s at his best.”
Labuschagne averaged just below 60 at the end of 2022, but it’s a figure that has been on a rapid decline, but he’s not on his own, and McDonald conceded his batters had “left the door ajar” too often in recent matches.
Selectors have, however, shown an aversion to change in recent times, opting to elevate Smith to opening after the retirement of David Warner, rather than injecting a new face into a line-up that has achieved so much success over the last 12 months.
That success has also come with keeper Alex Carey wearing the gloves, but a massive Sheffield Shield century to Josh Inglis, who replaced Carey in the ODI team, has put that position in the spotlight.
Carey has two half-centuries in his past seven Test innings but also registered scores of 10 and three in Wellington.
There isn’t, however, going to be a swift move from the team.
“We’re not going to hang him on one innings or two innings over a period of time, McDonald said.
“We’ll see how that plays out.”
Australia retained the Trans-Tasman Trophy with the win in the first Test.
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