NEWS
Follow UsAustralia batsman Marnus Labuschagne has put his hand up for selection ahead of the T20 World Cup, jointly hosted by Oman and the UAE, from October 17. Labuschagne who is yet to make his T20 International (T20I) debut was not picked for Australia's tour of West Indies and Bangladesh, where his side got blanked 4-1 in the shortest format on both occasions.
Instead of giving the batsman a chance at those two tours, it was believed that it would be better if he groomed his T20 game at the T20 Blast in England. Added to that, there were logistical issues when it came to quarantining, due to which he could have missed out on playing a few games, which would further add to his experience.
He had a brilliant T20 tournament with Glamorgan, scoring 390 runs at 55.71 to go with an impressive strike-rate of 140.79. Good enough to make the cut for the T20 World Cup? Labuschagne certainly hopes so.
"I certainly think the games I played in England have helped me a lot with just learning my own game in T20 cricket and it's shown that if there's that sort of role that (selectors) need (to be filled), then I'm available, Labuschagne said, according to Cricket.com.au.
"Pretty much everything I could've done (for T20 World Cup selection), I did in England. I played eight games in the Blast and that was really fun, just to play that role at three and four and bowling a lot of overs."
Labuschagne played majority of his innings at three, where currently, there is stiff competition within Australia. With Mitchell Marsh having performed admirably during the West Indies and Bangladesh tours and a possible return of Steven Smith from injury, could push Labuschagne down the pecking order.
Also, with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis likely to occupy slots in the middle-order, the chances of Labuschagne getting in could be slim. However, the fact that he is excellent against spin could work in his favour and the selectors led by George Bailey could certainly consider that while picking the team for the mega event.
"I think it (play against spin) is certainly in my favour, but I'm not a selector so it's hard to judge how they're viewing it," he said.
"But I certainly think where we're playing in the UAE, and with conditions being more spin-friendly, it might be an option."
Labuschagne returned to Australia last month after his stint at Glamorgan. He insists that he has not experienced any sort of bubble fatigue yet. "I came back a little bit early from England to make sure I've got that time to refresh and be ready for the summer or whatever else is to come up before then," he added.
"I'm certainly not feeling (any bubble fatigue) but I can understand that people with young families, it can be really hard being away."
"I was away from my wife for three months, and that's tough – you've got to make sacrifices sometimes, that's the job we're in."
Since making his international debut in 2018, Labuschagne has played 18 Tests and 13 ODIs for Australia so far.
