Former head coach and opener Justin Langer has urged Australia to keep Marnus Labuschagne in the top-order and opined that Australian national selectors should not drop him as it would pose problems in the development of future national team batter talent. The place of Labuschagne is now questionable following Australia losing the ICC World Test Championship final at the hands of South Africa by a five-wicket margin. Labuschagne was promoted to bat at the top of the order when South Africa came to town but was dismissed on 17 and 22 runs, finishing the two-year cycle with an average of 27.82.

Justin Langer’s Statement

“Marnus is a 50-Test player. He’s been the best player in the world. He still averages (46.19). All players go through it. If you’re not scoring runs, you’re going to be under the spotlight. But all of a sudden David Warner leaves. And then Usman Khawaja leaves. And then Steve Smith.

“If Marnus isn’t playing well, you’ve got a huge gap there because Travis Head bats down the order. So he’s actually a very, very important link in this chain here. If I was the Australian team, I’d be focusing – and I’m sure they are – all their attention on getting Marnus to come good in however that is,” said Langer to reporters, on the sidelines of seeing teams prepare for State of Origin rugby league series in Perth.

After the WTC final loss, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald insisted that Labuschagne was still in their plans for the future, though he did mention at what point they stop picking the right-handed batter.

“You think about the history of Australian cricket. The best young players come in surrounded by absolute guns. Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn and Matthew Hayden. They come in and they’re around gun players. If you just all of a sudden bring a couple of kids in, Cameron Green’s still young to the game.

“And you have to bring another kid in there (to replace Labuschagne). Sam Konstas, he played a few Tests, right? I think he’s only got two first-class hundreds at the moment. And they were both in the same game.

“I say this with absolute respect, but these new guys coming in, they’re not averaging 50 (in first-class cricket). These other guys coming through, you’ve got to be smacking the door down. You can’t just bring them in an Ashes series,” concluded Langer.