Ponting wants Australia to 'look beyond' Labuschagne, Cummins also suggests end of rope nearing
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Ponting wants Australia to 'look beyond' Labuschagne, Cummins also suggests end of rope nearing")
Ponting wants Australia to 'look beyond' Labuschagne, Cummins also suggests end of rope nearing Photograph: (AFP)
In 11 Tests and 20 innings played since Boxing Day Test 2024, Labuschagne has the best of 65 against England in Ashes at the Gabba and 51 not out in the second innings of Perth Test. Overall, he has managed just 392 runs at an average of nearly 22 - half of his career average.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has asked the team to move on from struggling batter Marnus Labuschagne after his recent failure in the two-Test series against Bangladesh. Australia had suffered a shock defeat in the first Test with Labuschagne scoring 1 and 31 runs across two innings, while managing just 4 runs in the only innings of Australia in the second Test which hosts won by an innings. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins has also hinted that end of rope is nearing for Marnus if he doesn't start scoring runs soon.
Ponting wants Labuschagne dropped
Speaking to Channel 7 during the second Test which Australia won the second Test in two days, Ponting said: "I'm on record as saying I would have made that change at the start of this series because I think there was enough evidence for me to suggest that he was a long way from rediscovering his best.
"He was unlucky today. There's no doubt about that. But that tends to happen to you as well when you're struggling and you're trying to find some form and some rhythm. The worry that I had with him, I think there's some technical deficiency there but he's making the margin for error for the bowlers too great. With the length, he can't score off the back foot. If you can't score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game. So I well and truly think it's time to have a look at somebody else."
How bad is Labuschagne's form?
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Labuschagne has played 65 Tests, scoring 4,730 runs at an average of nearly 44 with 11 hundreds, 25 fifties and a best of 215. His last good performance, however, came during the Boxing Day Test against India in December 2024 in Border-Gavaskar Trophy, when he scored 72 and 70 across two innings.
In 11 Tests and 20 innings played since, Labuschagne has the best of 65 against England in Ashes at the Gabba and 51 not out in the second innings of Perth Test. Overall, he has managed just 392 runs at an average of nearly 22 - half of his career average.
What does Cummins think?
Aussie skipper Cummins did not go as far as Ponting but agreed that Labuschagne needs to score runs. "We know he's (Labuschagne) class when he's at his best. And going into the series, we thought he was pretty close to his best. But he needs to start transferring that into runs out there, so we'll see in the next couple of weeks." Australia next play a Test series in South Africa from October 9.
