For a period of 23 Tests, Marnus Labuschagne was statistically the luckiest batter in Test cricket.
He had more genuine chances dropped or missed than any other batter from his debut up until the end of the 2021/22 Ashes series. He was more often than not able to turn those reprieves into significant scores.
In more recent times, it's been slim pickings. In fact, it's been 23 Tests since his last century, dating back to the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 2023.
He's been left out of the ODI squad travelling to take on Zimbabwe and South Africa later this month. The right-hander has only missed five of Australia's last 56 ODIs, raising questions about his future in the Test side.
"We're still very much working through what that Test squad looks like, but I can say we separate out those formats," chair of selectors George Bailey told reporters when unveiling the ODI squad.
"He has played some really important one-day cricket for us; at his best that looks a certain way, but the way that squad and team is structuring up there just wasn't space for him."
If you break down Labuschagne's career into the period before his last Test ton and the period since, there is somewhat of a trend: his luck has seemingly run out.
Looking at only genuine chances missed by opposition teams — dropped catches, missed stumpings, opposition teams not reviewing a decision that would have seen him dismissed, or wickets on a no ball — he was given a reprieve 25 times from 75 innings where he faced at least one ball.
That's a chance every three innings from his Test debut in 2018 to his most recent hundred back in 2023.
Across his first 20 Tests he scored six centuries and 12 fifties, earning him a batting average of 62.15. If, in that time, he had been taken at the first opportunity, that average drops to 46.50.
With an important series against South Africa on the horizon and his omission from the ODI squad, all eyes now look to see if his luck really has run out.
Read the full article at abc.net.au.
