Bailey also pointed out that Labuschagne has been allowed to resume captaincy duties with Queensland, giving him the opportunity to play without added pressure.

“We won’t be considering Marn for selection certainly for that first Test, but (also) for the New Zealand series. And the reason I just wanted to clear that up today is I think there’s going to be or has been a lot of speculation around his place in the team,” the former Aussie captain said.

“So I think this gives him a little bit of space and clears up a bit of conjecture as we work through the next round of Shield cricket, and we’ll pick the rest of that squad at the end of the completion of round four of Sheffield Shield.”

Labuschagne’s axing isn’t entirely unexpected. The middle-order batter has endured a prolonged lean patch, with his average dropping to 23.66 across the last 10 Tests. This is the second time in a year that Labuschagne has been dropped from a Test series, following his omission from Australia’s three-match series in the West Indies in 2025.

Labuschagne has scored just one half-century since returning to the squad last year. Besides, his tally of just 131 runs across three Tests against South Africa, a series Australia lost 1-2, proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Bailey said that if Labuschagne makes the most of his time in the Sheffield Shield, he could be in contention for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India early next year, followed by the Ashes in England.

“It’s still possible, absolutely. And I think we all know how good and how effective Marnus can be at his best. But that performance hasn’t been there. I think he’s missed some opportunities, some promising starts in Darwin (against Bangladesh) and even in South Africa as well to go on and get a big score that we’d like and would have liked for some time and that just hasn’t happened. I don’t think we’ve ever ruled anyone out permanently to ever not be selected again, and that’s no different in this,” added Bailey.

“He’s always been an incredible performer at first-class level,” Bailey said. “So I expect that that’ll be the case (again). So yeah, there’s no message to go back and do anything in particular. I mean, I think the currency is pretty obvious, but he’s had a long run in that role, albeit with the gap during that West Indies series and post that back at domestic cricket. So for him, I think the plan is just to go back and focus on playing as well as he can for Queensland for a period of time.”