Australia face Marnus Labuschagne call amid batting squeeze ahead of WTC final

Labuschagne’s lukewarm form continued in Australia’s 2-0 series defeat of Sri Lanka with scores of 20 and 4 in his first two knocks. He looked to be finding his feet as he made an unbeaten 26 in a 37-run stand with Usman Khawaja that sealed victory in the second Test in Galle on Sunday.

The timing looks unfortunate with a glut of batting options available for the WTC Final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.

“It’s clear that we’ve got some players that have put their hand up, so there is a squeeze,” said coach Andrew McDonald. “Whoever misses out will be very unlucky.”

Australia could change their XI around between the WTC Final and the three-match West Indies series that begins later in June. McDonald said it was “highly likely” the squads would be different for the two, but Australia will defer selection calls, including on Labuschagne, until closer to June.

“England creates a different challenge and then off to West Indies, which can spin, it can also swing and seam,” McDonald said. “The beauty of it is we’ve got some time before we have to make some decisions.

“It’s great to have options. Will they all be fit at that time? Who fits what conditions and when? I think that’s going to be the art of what transpires across the journey.”

Smith remains confident Labuschagne is approaching a big score, sceptical about claims his close mate is even out of form. The stand-in captain went as far as to say he had recently been in a similar situation to Labuschagne, feeling at his best despite scores of 0, 17 and 2 to begin the home summer.

Smith has since scored centuries in four of five Test matches since those lean figures against India and was player of the series against Sri Lanka.

“Marn’s similar to me, in a way,” Smith said. “I’ve said this a lot of times about myself, there’s a difference between being out of form and out of runs. I don’t think he’s out of form, personally. I’ve watched him train, I’ve watched him play and a lot of the things that he’s done so well are there.

“He knows he’d love to score more runs, we’d love him to score more runs, but in my opinion, it’s just around the corner.”