Marnus Labuschagne has become sort of a symbol of an underperforming Australian batting order. The No.3 batsman avaraged just 12 in the two home Tests against Bangladesh, a part of his lean run dating back to the start of 2023, since when he has scored just one hundred and 1,659 runs at less than 30 runs per visit to the middle.

But a day after skipper Pat Cummins refused to give any guarantees to the beleagured top-order batsman, wicketkeeper Alex Carey jumped to his defence.

Australia’s next Test assignment is a three-match series in South Africa, the country of Labuschagne’s birth, in October.

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“I don’t reckon I can guarantee anyone really. He’s not scored the runs he would’ve liked,” Cummins said after the series-levelling innings-and-51-run win at Mackay. “I did say a couple of days ago – and I think it still stands – he’s been batting fantastically well off the field. But it doesn’t mean much. You’ve got to convert that into runs out there.”

There’s a bit of time before the Aussie selectors pick the squad for the series between the top two sides in the World Test Championship table.

“We know he’s class when he’s at his best, and going into this series we thought he was pretty close to his best. But he needs to start transferring that into runs out there, so we’ll see in the next couple of weeks,” the skipper said.

However, Carey still held out hope for Labushagne.

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“No urgency from my point of view,” he said. “I guess there is a bit of time now between that next Test match – a month or so – and we’re always looking for ways to improve.

“I’ll speak for Marnus; I think he’s shown some great signs. We know how good a player he is at his best, and I don’t think many batters found it easy out here. He’s working really hard, and a score is really close for him.”

What could work in Labuschagne’s favour, again, is that not many batsmen in the domestic game are averaging above 40, or played sufficient red-ball cricket, especially in the top order.