A resurgent Marnus Labuschagne scored his
fourth century in five innings to further press his case for a recall to
Australia's side for the Ashes.
The 31-year-old batter scored 159 on day two of
Queensland's Sheffield Shield match against South Australia, which follows
scores of 130 and 105 in Australia's domestic 50-over competition and 160 in
the previous round of red-ball matches.
Labuschagne, who has scored 11 hundreds in 58 Tests,
was dropped for Australia's three-Test series against West Indies this
summer after a poor run of form.
He has not scored a Test century since the fourth Test of
the 2023 Ashes - a run of 30 innings across which he averages 24.74.
A return to form for Labuschagne would not entirely solve
the issues Australia have around their batting line-up for the first Test
against England at Perth on 21 November.
He was pushed up to open in his most recent Test - the
World Test Championship final defeat by South Africa in which he returned
scores of 17 and 22 - but has been batting at his previous position of number
three for Queensland.
Were he to return at number three, the position he has
scored all of his Test hundreds, Australia would still be looking for at least
one opener.
Twenty-year-old Sam Konstas played in West Indies but
managed only 50 runs across six innings. Though he scored a century for
Australia A in India last month he has not passed 50 in four innings in
domestic cricket this season and was dismissed by Scott Boland for a four-ball
duck on Wednesday.
Tasmania's uncapped opener Jake Weatherald, 30, scored a
99-ball 94 on day two of a low-scoring match against Western Australia on
Thursday to push his case.
If Labuschagne returned as an opener then it would allow
Australia to pick Cameron Green at number three and retain fellow all-rounder
Beau Webster in the middle order, though Green only has one fifty in eight
innings in that position since being pushed up the order for the Test final
against South Africa.
Webster is currently out with an ankle injury but Green
is in Australia's squad for the three-match one-day international series
against India which begins on Sunday.
