McDonald: Australia will 'reassess' Labuschagne selection and squad's 'age profile'

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has defended the number of opportunities given to Marnus Labuschagne who looks certain to lose his spot for the second time in 18 months after a lean tour of South Africa ended with a forgettable outing in Cape Town.

But despite the 2-1 series defeat, which included Australia being bowled out for 99 and 111, McDonald saw encouraging signs in the batting department. He pointed to the performances of Cameron Green and Josh Inglis in the first innings of the final Test, the latter scoring a century after a last-minute call to replace the injured Steven Smith, while Matt Renshaw was the leading run-scorer in the series.

He also said he has not seen anything to suggest that Smith's difficult tour has pushed him nearer to retirement and indicated that Nathan Lyon remains the No. 1 spinner although he acknowledged the side's "age profile" would continue to be discussed.

There seems to be no world in which Labuschagne is part of the squad to face New Zealand in Perth in early December. He made 0 and 4 at Newlands to leave him without a half-century in 16 Test innings and an average of 23.66 since his recall for last season's Ashes.

It has led to some strong criticism, with former Australia batter Simon Katich saying on SEN that the selectors had "potentially crucified a bloke's career" by not taking him out of the firing line sooner. However, even if they had taken the call to drop Labuschagne for the decider, their hand would likely have been forced into playing him due to Smith's injury.

McDonald said he would not respond to the comments from Katich but argued that any opportunity to play for Australia is worthwhile.

"What I can say is that any opportunity that you get to play for Australia, I don't think damages you," he said. "I think there's even been critiquing of some of our younger players where they've been placed and the harm that that may cause to their careers and things like that.

"We believed in Marnus for this tour. We'll have to reassess that as we move forward. Others will sit there and say what that means for him. There'll be a lot of speculation. There's still a very good cricketer there. Every time he drops back to state level, he outperforms the others.

"He's had some opportunities that he's missed on this tour in particular so that'll be something in the next week or so that we'll get our heads around. We're not in a rush to make decisions. There's too much emotion. But, as I said, he hasn't taken his opportunity on this tour."

"We walk away stronger"

While McDonald conceded it would be difficult to talk up positives straight after a series defeat when they had led 1-0 only to suffer two match-defining collapses, he was adamant there had been development in the batting.

"It's still a very good cricket team with a lot of very good players in there," he said. "Some legends of the game, or down the path they will be acknowledged as legends of the game. So we've got to balance that out with who comes in, what the next decisions are.

"If you looked at the batting unit, I think we walk away in a stronger position with Green, [although] it was an injury that curtailed it early in the series [for him], but for Inglis to get that opportunity, he's got two away Test hundreds and we know how difficult it is to play away.

"The challenge is always greater when you play away in foreign conditions and you get challenged in different ways. There's a reason why a lot of teams don't win on the road. It is difficult and it's not an excuse, we felt as though we were good enough to come here and win this series.

"But we're always going to have decisions to make, in particular around the age profile of our team. We're probably asking ourselves the same questions as you guys are."

Green can adapt to any challenge

McDonald also backed Green's ability against spin after he struggled on the final day in Cape Town. After lunch, Green faced solely pace and Pat Cummins spin, until Simon Harmer changed ends and removed Green first ball of the new spell, although McDonald reiterated the tactics were because they had switched into trying to draw the game.

"Think I've got to take you back to Galle [in 2022] when he got that 70-odd in extreme conditions," he said. "He probably had a different game plan and method there to what he used [in Cape Town]. I think [this] scenario shifted him into a draw mentality. He wasn't able to get into a rhythm against Harmer. We had a plan of two players down either end and try to absorb that.

"I think he's a good player of spin. He's got good reach. He's able to sweep. He's able to use his feet as well in amongst all that reach. I'm very confident that whatever challenges he comes up against in whatever conditions, he'll be able to succeed."

Smith and Lyon set for New Zealand

Looking ahead to the New Zealand series, McDonald indicated that Lyon's position in the squad was not under threat. He took six wickets at 43.66 in the series - and was left out in favour of Scott Boland at St George's Park - compared to Harmer's 14 at 29.35. "I don't think it's something to review now," he said. "I think we sit back and we'll go through Shield cricket. Nathan will be preparing for the first Test match in Perth."

McDonald said the "right decision" had been made with Smith not playing in the deciding Test after his neck problem worsened following a nerve-block injection on the morning of the game after there being confidence he would be able to take part the day before.

"The day before, it looked really positive," McDonald said. "But you never know how you're going to pull up from that. All I'll say is, the medical team and Steve gave it every chance. He wasn't ready to play. He acknowledged that. We do put a lot of trust into our players, in particular, our senior players who know their body quite well. So that decision of Steve, I think, was the right decision."

"It's happened now. What do we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again and give him the best preparation that we possibly can."

McDonald hinted at a potential Sheffield Shield outing for Smith before New Zealand arrive for four Tests. New South Wales have two games in Sydney later in November with those rounds also presenting further opportunity for players outside the squad to push their case before the Test squad is named.