Description
Marnus Labuschagne ( or Afrikaans: [la.bəs'kax.ni]; born 22 June 1994) is a South African born international cricketer who plays for the Australian cricket team in Tests and ODIs as a batsman. He plays domestically for Queensland, Glamorgan in county cricket and for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League. Labuschagne has been ranked as high as no.1 in the ICC Test batting rankings, and is considered as one of the best Test batsmen in the world. Labuschagne was a member of the Australian team that won the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.
Labuschagne was born in Klerksdorp, North West Province, South Africa. He represented Queensland at various levels in junior cricket, before making his first-class cricket debut in 2014. In August 2019, Labuschagne was the first cricketer to become a concussion substitute in a Test match, replacing Steve Smith. Labuschagne was the leading run-scorer in Test matches in 2019. He rose to fourth place in the ICC Player Rankings during the year, a rise of 106 places. In January 2020, Labuschagne was named as the ICC Men's Emerging Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC), in February as Australia's Test player of the year, and in April as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.