Marnus Labuschagne to play County Championship matches ahead of WTC 2023-25 final

Labuschagne's return to Glamorgan, where he has played since 2019, offers him valuable time in English conditions, as defending champions Australia aim to clinch back-to-back WTC titles, following their impressive win over India at the Oval last time out.

Notably, he scored 111 against Middlesex at Cardiff last season while opening the batting.

He steps in for Colin Ingram as one of the team's two overseas players in the XI, alongside Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando.

This stint could be pivotal as he vies for a spot in Australia's XI for the WTC Final, where he could potentially open the batting alongside southpaw Usman Khawaja, with Travis Head possibly returning to the middle-order.

Despite a challenging 2023-25 WTC cycle, where he amassed 935 runs from 19 Tests at an average of 28.33 with a single century, the 30-year-old remains a key figure in the Pat Cummins-led Test setup.

His overall WTC record boasts 4,186 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 48.67, including 11 centuries, second only to England's Joe Root.

Australia face a selection dilemma ahead of the Final, with the potential return of all-rounder Cameron Green and the emergence of young opener Sam Konstas, who impressed the cricketing world with his fearless batting technique in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Speaking on Labuschagne's return, Glamorgan's director of cricket, Mark Wallace, said as quoted by ICC, "It's great to have Marnus returning to the club again. He's very much part of the furniture here and we're looking forward to welcoming him back to Wales for a couple of games.

South Africa and Australia face off in a mouth-watering final showdown at Lord's from June 11-15, after finishing as the top two sides in World Test Championship standings, having collected 69.44 and 67.54 points-percentage respectively. (ANI)