Australia Drop Marnus Labuschagne for New Zealand Test Series After 49 Innings Without a Century

By Imran Javed | Sports | November 9, 2026 | Updated: November 9, 2026

Australia have dropped Marnus Labuschagne for the four-Test home series against New Zealand after 49 innings without a Test century. Chair of selectors George Bailey confirmed on Monday, November 9, 2026, that Labuschagne will not be considered for selection for the series, which begins in Perth on December 9 — a month before the series starts.

It is a ruthless call, but not a surprising one. Labuschagne has averaged 23.66 in 10 Tests since returning for last winter’s Ashes, managed just 131 runs at 21.83 in Australia’s recent 2-1 series defeat in South Africa, and has not scored a Test hundred since the 2023 Ashes in England. The selectors have decided the wait for a return to form is over — at least for this summer.

Key Facts: Marnus Labuschagne Dropped

Bailey’s call — and why he made it a month early

Bailey did not wait for the squad announcement to deliver the news. He told reporters on Monday that the panel had decided to confirm Labuschagne’s omission in advance, so the 32-year-old could return to captaining Queensland in the Sheffield Shield without weeks of speculation hanging over him.

“At this stage we won’t be considering Marn for selection for certainly that first Test, but for the New Zealand series,” Bailey said. “There’s been a lot of speculation around his place in the team, and so I think this gives him a little bit of space and clears up a bit of conjecture as we work through the next round of Shield cricket.”

The timing is unusual. Selectors normally keep their cards close until the squad is named, and the squad for the first Test will not be picked until after the fourth round of the Shield, which starts on Wednesday. Bailey’s early announcement is an admission of how settled the decision already was.

Bailey was careful to stress that the door is not closed. “It’s still possible, absolutely,” he said of a return. “And I think we all know how good and how effective Marnus can be at his best. But that performance hasn’t been there. I think he’s missed some opportunities, some promising starts in Darwin [against Bangladesh] and even in South Africa as well to go on and get a big score that we’d like and would have liked for some time and that just hasn’t happened.”

The numbers behind the axe

No amount of kind wording can soften the numbers. Since returning to the side for last season’s Ashes, Labuschagne has averaged 23.66 from 10 Tests, with only two half-centuries in 19 innings. His last Test century came in the fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes series against England — 49 innings ago — and he has just one hundred in his last 38 Tests. This is not a bad month; it is a long decline.

The South Africa tour was the breaking point. Labuschagne made 131 runs across six innings at 21.83, with a highest score of 39, as Australia lost the series 2-1. He did not reach 40 in either of the first two Tests, and then came the Cape Town decider: 0 and 4.

Bailey acknowledged the pattern without dressing it up. Labuschagne, he said, is pragmatic and knows “the fundamental nature of being a batter in the top six is to score runs and that just hasn’t happened”. There was, Bailey added, no special message for the Queenslander to take back to domestic cricket: “He’s always been an incredible performer at first-class level, so I expect that that’ll be the case [again].”

A career that fell away

What makes the dropping sting is how high Labuschagne once climbed. He struck 10 centuries in his first 30 Tests and was ranked No. 1 in the ICC Test batting rankings in 2021, when he and Steve Smith formed one of the most feared middle-order partnerships in world cricket.

Since the middle of 2023, the fall has been just as steep as the rise. His career average has slid from 60.82 after 30 Tests to 42.64 after 68, and he has tumbled to 40th in the ICC Test batting rankings. The 2023 Ashes, where he last reached three figures, now feels like a different career altogether.

This is the second time in 17 months that the selectors have made this call. Labuschagne was briefly dropped for last year’s tour of the West Indies, and he answered in the only way a batter can: five hundreds in 10 innings for Queensland across red-ball and one-day cricket, forcing his way back for the 2025-26 Ashes. The problem is that the runs never followed him back to Test level. That history is why the selectors will be watching his Shield returns with interest, and why they will not be easily convinced by a couple of big scores this time.

Who bats at No. 3 now?

The question Bailey’s announcement creates is as big as the one it answers. With Labuschagne out, Australia must find a new No. 3 — and the first piece of the puzzle is likely to be Steve Smith’s return. Smith missed the Cape Town decider with a neck injury, and Bailey indicated his return will probably be the first decision made. Smith is expected to face Queensland from November 22, provided he is signed off medically.

After that, the options are open. Cameron Green is one: he batted at No. 3 during the 2025 West Indies series, when Labuschagne was dropped the first time, and grew into the role with a fighting half-century in Grenada after a difficult start. Bailey said there are “a handful of players that are really well placed at the moment” as the selectors work through the next week to finalise the squad, and he warned against reading too much into a single Shield round.

Whoever takes the spot inherits a role with real weight. No. 3 has been Labuschagne’s for most of the past seven years, and the new batter will walk out in Perth on December 9 against a New Zealand attack with a point to prove — in a series Australia need to win, sitting third on the World Test Championship table and chasing points towards next June’s final at The Oval.

The road back — India, then the Ashes

Labuschagne’s immediate future is in Queensland colours. He will go back to captaining his state side in the Sheffield Shield, with the next round starting on Wednesday, November 11, and the selectors watching closely. The message from Bailey is that the currency is obvious: runs, and lots of them, at first-class level.

The path back is not a fantasy. Bailey did not rule out a return for the tour of India early next year — five Tests from January 21 — or for next summer’s Ashes series in England. “It’s still possible, absolutely,” he said. But the bar has clearly been raised: last time, five hundreds in 10 domestic innings earned a recall, and this time the selectors will want proof the fix is real, not just another hot streak at state level.

Before the Tests, Australia’s next assignment is white-ball cricket at home to England — a three-match ODI leg starting in Perth on Friday, November 13, followed by five T20s from November 21. It has been a crowded weekend of international sport elsewhere too: Pakistan sealed their T20I series with an 82-run win over Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield, and Carlos Alcaraz reached the Paris Masters final against Ben Shelton. But for Australian cricket, the summer story is set: the home Tests begin on December 9, and for the first time in years, Marnus Labuschagne will be watching from the outside.

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