Labuschagne backs himself to win back his Test place as he captains Queensland at the Gabba

Marnus Labuschagne says he has no doubt he will play Test cricket for Australia again, and begins the argument as Queensland captain at the Gabba on Wednesday

Labuschagne, 32, has been told he will not be considered for Australia's four-Test home series against New Zealand, ending a run in which he had played 63 of his country's 66 Tests since 2019. Speaking to reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday, he treated the decision as an interruption rather than an ending.

"I've got no doubt I will be back there. When? Who knows," he said. "I think my path back into the Australian team will work itself out. I've done it before. It's something that I truly want."

The route back is a familiar one. He captains Queensland against Sheffield Shield ladder leaders Tasmania at the Brisbane Cricket Ground from Wednesday, less than two weeks after his final Test of the South Africa tour.

A second omission in 17 months

This is the second time in 17 months that Labuschagne has been left out, after he was also dropped for the West Indies tour that followed the World Test Championship final in June 2025.

The decision followed three Tests in South Africa in which he made 131 runs at 21.83, with a highest score of 39. He was dismissed for 0 and 4 in the Cape Town decider.

Australia's squad for the New Zealand series is due to be named after this round of Shield cricket, and Labuschagne will not be part of it.

The numbers behind the decision

Labuschagne has now gone 49 Test innings without a century, his last arriving against England at Old Trafford in 2023. In that span he has made 1,094 runs at an average of 24.31.

The career record remains a strong one: 68 Tests, 4,861 runs at 42.64, with 11 centuries and 25 half-centuries. His highest score, 215, came against New Zealand in Perth in 2019.

He is currently equal 40th in the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings.

His own diagnosis

Labuschagne rejected the idea that he has been batting badly, pointing instead to how his innings have ended. "Six scores above 30 in 11 innings is not someone that's not batting well," he said. "It's someone that's making mistakes when they're in."

He traced several of his dismissals in South Africa to muddled thinking about what the situation required. "Some of those dismissals feel like they've come from a lack of clarity," he said.

His answer is to narrow his focus. He said he would use the omission as an opportunity to step back from the scrutiny, and that his job now is simpler than it has been for some time. "I'm here to win games for Queensland and score runs," he said.

The Shield has rescued him before

The precedent is recent. Left out of the Test side at the start of last summer, Labuschagne responded with Shield centuries of 160 against Tasmania and 159 against South Australia, and was recalled for the Perth Ashes opener.

He has three matches for the Bulls before the Big Bash break — Tasmania at home, then New South Wales at the SCG and Victoria at the MCG.

"If I'm playing at my best, I'll find my way back into that team," he said.

Test places open around him

Labuschagne is not the only one using the round to press a case. Michael Neser joins him in the Queensland squad, while Beau Webster and Matt Kuhnemann return for Tasmania at the Gabba, Webster hoping to force his way into the New Zealand squad after being dropped for the third Test in South Africa.

Nathan Lyon is back for New South Wales against South Australia at Cricket Central, though he is expecting another child and his availability for the full match is unclear.

Kuhnemann, meanwhile, has his eye further ahead, on the Border–Gavaskar Trophy tour of India that begins in January — the assignment that now looks like Labuschagne's most realistic target too.

The series runs from 9 December in Perth to a fourth Test at the SCG from 4 January, four matches Labuschagne will watch rather than play.

By the time Australia's selectors next sit down, he will have had one innings at the Gabba to remind them what he can do.