Marnus Labuschagne chose the final day of a two-day warm-up match in Potchefstroom to post his first hundred in any form of cricket for 11 months, five days before Australia’s first Test in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. The 32-year-old, whose Test place has been under sustained scrutiny after three years and 43 Tests without a century, reached his ton off 76 balls against a modest Cricket South Africa Invitation XI attack and finished on 111 from 89 deliveries, laced with 19 fours, before retiring to give teammates time in the middle.
The innings was a smooth piece of work. Steve Smith followed the same pattern, retiring on 61, while Alex Carey, fresh from his form in the third ODI, made 57. Pat Cummins’ side closed the drawn match on 6-368.
The timing matters for selection. Former skipper Ricky Ponting had led the argument that Labuschagne’s position had become “untenable”, a view sharpened by three failures in the recent Bangladesh series. Yet the South Africa-born batter now looks set to occupy the No 3 spot again when the first Test starts in Durban on Friday. The venue carried its own resonance: Senwes Park sits less than 50km from Klerksdorp, where Labuschagne was born, and it was there in 2020 that he made his first ODI hundred for Australia.
His teammates read the innings as a return to rhythm. “Really nice. Looks like he’s got a lot of energy at the crease, it’s the Marn that I know that’s batting well,” said Matt Renshaw, who declared himself fit after a knock to his right wrist in the final ODI. “Really nice to see him getting the runs and doing what he wants to do. Really nice positivity, his feet were moving well and he was just reacting.”
Renshaw’s own outing was less productive. He was dismissed for 32 off his 50 balls, and fellow opener Travis Head fell for 21 off 22. Beau Webster, easing back into work, made 42 before retiring. Smith’s presence carries historical weight: he received a 12-month ban as captain for his role in altering the ball’s condition with sandpaper at Cape Town eight years ago, and he returns alongside other survivors of that tour in Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Renshaw, all of whom could feature on Friday.
Meanwhile, Australia will also take satisfaction from the bowling side of the exercise. Eleven bowlers were given a run-out on the Saturday as the Invitation XI declared on 318-7, built around a century from former Proteas captain Neil Brand. Further context for the match, and for the wider tour, can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/05/australia-marnus-labuschagne-south-africa-cricket-test.
The hosts have their own selection problem to solve. South Africa paceman Anrich Nortje is in line for a return to first-class cricket after an absence of three-and-a-half years, with fitness doubts over key strike bowler Kagiso Rabada and three others straining the attack. Nortje has not played a Test since March 2023, having dealt with a series of back and hip problems that pushed him toward white-ball formats to reduce the load on his body. “I’ll be very excited if I can put my Test cap on again. Growing up, it’s the format you want to play,” he said on Sunday, the day before he was expected to be named in a 15-man Test squad. Whether his body holds up over a full Test in Durban may now be the most consequential question of the tour’s opening week.