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Marnus Labuschagne Axed as Australia Seeks Fresh Faces for ODI Tour

Marnus Labuschagne, the World Cup hero who steadied Australia on that fevered night in Ahmedabad, is out of the one-day squad. A year from a title defence and on the eve of a major Test tour, one of the central figures of 2023 has been cast aside.

In his place, a teenager is packing his bags for Africa.

Victorian prodigy Ollie Peake has been fast-tracked into the ODI squad for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa, a bold call that underlines just how restless – and ruthless – Australia’s selectors have become after a bruising stretch in the subcontinent.

Labuschagne on the outer

Labuschagne’s omission is the headline shock. This is a player who made an unbeaten 58 in the 2023 World Cup final against India, anchoring a chase that will live long in Australian cricket folklore. Now, with the next World Cup only a year away and again to be staged in Zimbabwe and South Africa, his place in the white-ball setup has vanished at the worst possible time.

The numbers since that triumph tell the story. His highest ODI score since the final is an unbeaten 77 in England two years ago. Across the recent tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh, he mustered just one half-century. In a side desperate for runs and urgency in the middle order, that simply hasn’t been enough.

He is not alone. Matt Short, Ben Dwarshuis, Todd Murphy and Liam Scott have also been cut after the May–June ODI campaign in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Five players out. A message sent.

And with Test squad selection looming for the South African tour, Labuschagne’s broader future suddenly feels far less secure than it did when he walked off unbeaten in Ahmedabad.

New blood, old fire

Into the vacuum step Peake and Joel Davies, two young players the selectors clearly believe can handle the step up. Peake, a teenager from Victoria, will get his first serious taste of international cricket in African conditions, weeks before the Test side arrives and just a year out from a World Cup on the same soil. It is a fast, high-stakes apprenticeship.

Davies, another highly rated talent, joins him for the three-match series against Zimbabwe this month. For both, this is not a token tour. It is an audition on the very stage where Australia hope to defend their crown.

At the other end of the experience scale, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc have made their intentions plain. Both have committed to the ODI leg in South Africa ahead of the Tests, a clear signal they see themselves not just as Test spearheads but as central figures in Australia’s 2027 World Cup plans as well.

Chairman of selectors George Bailey did not disguise the importance of what’s coming.

“This six-game series is an important lead-in to next year’s World Cup, being played in the same countries, for the group,” he said, framing the tour as a live trial rather than a gentle warm-up.

He welcomed the return of senior players Mitch Marsh, Travis Head and Josh Hazlewood for the Zimbabwe matches, then Cummins and Starc for the South Africa leg, describing that core as the spine around which the next generation can grow.

“For Ollie and Joel, who we rate very highly, it’s another fantastic opportunity and a further chance for them to continue their exposure and growth in the Australian team.”

Marsh to lead, results to fix

Marsh will captain the side against Zimbabwe, before he and Cummins share leadership duties in South Africa. The arrangement reflects both Australia’s flexibility and their uncertainty in the format. They are still searching for the right blend, the right voice, the right tempo.

They need answers quickly.

Australia’s recent ODI record is far from the swaggering profile of a reigning world champion. They lost 2-1 to Bangladesh in June in the longer white-ball format, backing up a 2-1 defeat to Pakistan in late May. Since edging England 3-2 in the northern summer of 2024, their only ODI series win came against India in 2025/26. The rest has been a trail of setbacks, including losses to South Africa and Sri Lanka.

This tour, then, is not a low-key tune-up. It is a reset.

The squad that carries the burden

The selectors have opted for a squad that blends hardened campaigners with players still learning the rhythms of international cricket:

  • Xavier Bartlett (QLD/Gold Coast Cricket Club)
  • Alex Carey (SA/Glenelg Cricket Club)
  • Cooper Connolly (WA/Scarborough Cricket Club)
  • Pat Cummins (NSW/Penrith Cricket Club)
  • Joel Davies (NSW/Manly Warringah Cricket Club)
  • Nathan Ellis (TAS/Lindisfarne Cricket Club)
  • Cameron Green (WA/Subiaco-Floreat Cricket Club)
  • Josh Hazlewood (NSW/St George Cricket Club)
  • Travis Head (SA/Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club)
  • Josh Inglis (WA/Joondalup Cricket Club)
  • Spencer Johnson (SA/West Torrens Cricket Club)
  • Mitchell Marsh (WA/Fremantle Cricket Club)
  • Oliver Peake (VIC/Geelong Cricket Club)
  • Matthew Renshaw (QLD/Toombul Cricket Club)
  • Billy Stanlake (TAS/Greater Northern Raiders Cricket Club)
  • Mitchell Starc (NSW/Manly Warringah Cricket Club)
  • Adam Zampa (QLD/Sutherland Cricket Club)

It is a group with enough experience to compete immediately, but enough youth to hint at a very different Australian ODI side by the time 2027 rolls around.

For now, though, the focus is sharper, more immediate. Six games in conditions that will mirror next year’s World Cup. A squad under pressure to rediscover its edge. A former final hero watching from home.

If this is the start of a new one-day era for Australia, the first verdict will arrive in Africa – and it will be unforgiving.

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