By his own admission Marnus Labuschagne needs “mountains of runs” to return to Australia’s Test team and he is also clear in his head on how he will achieve that goal.
The 32-year-old has been axed for the four-Test domestic series against New Zealand after a lack of runs over a long period of time gave selectors little choice.
Now the Queensland captain has three Sheffield Shield games before the competition’s mid-season hiatus — starting at the Gabba against Tasmania on Wednesday — to make a compelling case for a recall for the five-Test away series in India which begins in January.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
Labuschagne said his downfall in the 2-1 series loss in South Africa was due to a lack of clarity in his own approach and an inability to find the balance between what the team needed and his own desire to break the shackles and make a big score.
In six of his past 11 Test innings he has reached 30 but he hasn’t got past 48, extending his run of innings without a Test century to 49.
“Getting scores above 30 is not someone not batting well. It is someone making mistakes when they are in. A lot of those mistakes are from the pressure of having to keep scoring runs and being on the verge of losing my spot,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to step back and do what I have done best, which is assess the situation in the game and do what is necessary for the team.
“You look at those dismissals in South Africa and some of those dismissals feel like they have come from a lack of clarity on what the team needed and my own personal battle of scoring runs … getting to 30 and wanting to go on and rush the game.”
Australian selectors’ chairman George Bailey said Labuschagne, who still averages 42.64 in Tests, could “absolutely” return to the red ball team via sheer weight of domestic runs.
He burst onto the scene with 10 centuries from his first 33 Tests, when he averaged 59.43 and at one stage was the world’s top-ranked batter.
“I am here to win games for Queensland and score runs. If I do that, I know that if I am playing at my best I will fight my way back into that team,” Labuschagne said.
“It starts tomorrow and making sure that if I do get 30 or 40 that I can make it count.
“It is a real team focus so that hopefully I come back into that Australian line-up. The only way that is going to happen is with mountains of runs.”
Last summer, Labuschagne was in a similar predicament and made major scores for the Bulls to retain his place in the Ashes.
He said he was in the flow in three innings in the 30s in South Africa then “rushed the process”, which was out of character based on his previous modus operandi.
Labuschagne said he knew the axe was hovering when he made 0 and 4 in the final Test in Cape Town.
“I knew if I didn’t get runs I was going to be on that precipice,” he said.
“It creates a clear mind for me to start again.”
