Marnus Labuschagne came in at the last minute to replace Cameron Green, who was out with a concussion, in the first ODI of Australia’s series against South Africa. Even so, he has done well enough since then that Labuschagne, who wasn’t on the original World Cup team, will now be one of the first names in the Australia XI when the tournament is held in India.
Labuschagne got 80 not out and 124 in the two wins Australia had in South Africa before losing three in a row. He also played well in India in the Rajkot ODI, which his team won after losing the first two. When asked how Labuschagne fits into Australia’s plans for the World Cup, head coach Andrew McDonald said that he is “pretty much a lock in” for the top four players.
“It’s been a great comeback after being dropped from that South African team and not being on it. We were pretty clear on how we thought Marn should play for the team to work. “He went away to work on it,” McDonald said. “I think he might have said more about that a few days ago when he left. He took some time to think about it, then came back as a different person. There is no question about it.
McDonald went into more detail about why Labuschagne was left out at first, and he said that Labuschagne’s strong work ethic helped him get back into the team, with a little help from luck.
“In the practice game against Pakistan, we saw his early purpose, the ways he could score, and the fact that he starts his innings with a lot of drive. And we love seeing that, and we’ve always known he could do it, but he hadn’t been doing it for a long time before he dropped.
“He was learning about that. And, as I said, he deserves all the credit. He went away to work on his game, and the story is great. If you want to know if he’s a sure starter, I don’t know who else you’ll put on your team if he’s not there. So I think it’s pretty clear that he’ll be in the top four. The last thing we need to answer is how we’ll set up the team.
Australia, on the other hand, is worried about whether Marcus Stonis will be able to play in the first game because he is having trouble with his knee. Adam Zampa, on the other hand, is good to go, McDonald said, even though the legspinner had been hurt earlier.
“Zampa doesn’t worry me as much. His is more about getting things done. He was a little sore after the second ODI game, but it wasn’t anything big. A little bit different, Marcus Stoinis. At this point, he is having a little trouble with his leg. So that’s why he didn’t play in the practice games, and the first game against India will be a close call for him. Today is the big event, and tomorrow we’ll have another hit out. He’ll finish his work there, and then we’ll see if he’s ready for game one. For now, though, he wasn’t fit enough to play in those practice games.
McDonald said this about Marcus Stoinis’s injury: “That happened after the Mohali game. He pulled up a bit sore. Then, when they looked into it more, they found that it was a small hamstring strain. Then he just gets better. As I said, his chances of playing in game one are slim. He hasn’t been ruled out, but we didn’t want to take a chance with him in those practice games. So he’s probably been slow and played a little bit with the idea that the next couple of days are really important for him to push for selection for game one, and we’ll see how that goes.
Travis Head is still not fully recovered from a broken arm, but he is still part of the team. McDonald said Head will continue to train at home and that he will give a report in a week.
“Trav will give us news pretty much every day. He spends a lot of time with the group. Official updates will probably happen around the 11th or 12th of October, when there will be another checkpoint to see how his bone healing is going. That will probably tell us a lot more about the final timelines and when he might be able to join the group. Until we get that information, he’ll stay at home and work as much as he can to get his body ready.
McDonald was also happy with Maxwell’s progress since he came back, and he was confident that he would be able to play in the World Cup. “So far, so good,” he said. As I already said, the way he came back from that Pakistan game was very good. We also have some good breaks in between, which is different from bilateral games, which are often very close together with short breaks. In the World Cup, you have a little more room and time to rest. So we think he’ll be able to handle what the World Cup has in store for him.”
