Afrikaans Marnus feasts at home with tour-game century

His heart full of well-wishes from his South African family, Marnus Labuschagne surely squared away his place in Australia's Test team after a rapid century ahead of the three-match series against the Proteas.

Days after the local Labuschagne clan hosted the entire Australian touring party for a braai at their holiday house not far from Potchefstroom, the No.3 tucked into a modest Cricket South Africa Invitational XI attack at NWU Oval.

The semi-rural Highveld ground, 40 minutes from Labuschagne's childhood home in Klerksdorp, was the site of his emotional maiden ODI century in 2020. Both his grandmothers were in the crowd that day among a group of around 50 Labuschagne family members.

That was when the right-hander was making his ascent to becoming Test cricket's No.1-ranked batter. While the flow of runs has been leaner in recent times, the now 32-year-old's unbeaten 111 off only 89 balls is a positive step in his bid to end a three-year Test century drought next week.

Midway through Sunday's second session, captain Pat Cummins had seen enough, retiring him out to allow the rest of Australia's middle-order some practice before Friday's series opener in Durban.

"It was really nice to see where he grew up and they're great people out here," Matthew Renshaw, Labuschagne's state and national teammate, told cricket.com.au of the barbeque earlier this week.

"A lot of Afrikaans getting spoken. It's weird – I've known 'Marn' for so long now, and he just talks with an Australian accent and then gets the really (strong) Afrikaans accent out. But he's the translator for everyone – booking golf, ordering at restaurants. If you need to speak Afrikaans, just get Marn on it."

Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada (if fit) will of course pose a far greater challenge to the collection of fringe first-class journeymen and younger emerging talents Labuschagne battered all around the familiar North-West University Oval.

But the forceful intent of the right-hander, who hit 13 of his first 36 balls to the boundary on the way to a 76-ball ton, will undoubtedly have pleased Andrew McDonald and George Bailey, who have previously called on him to show stronger intent at the crease.

After being called off, Labuschagne proceeded to hit more balls in the nets, specifically to practice against the left-arm spin threat Australia are expecting from Maharaj at Kingsmead. He also signed autographs and posed for the few fans who turned up to watch the subdued encounter.

"It looks like he's got a lot of energy at the crease, which is nice," said Renshaw. "It's the Marn that I know that's batting well. Really nice to see him getting the runs ... his feet were moving well, and he was just reacting."

The improbability of Cameron Green recovering from an abdominal strain in time for the first Test further increases Labuschagne's hopes of holding his place. The allrounder, along with recent arrivals Nic Maddinson and Sam Harper, were the only squad members to not take part in the two-day match.

Labuschagne was very much the aggressor in his rapid 115-run stand with Steve Smith, who initially took a more leisurely pace as he readjusts to the different rhythm of red-ball cricket compared to his recent diet of European T20 Premier League matches in Ireland and the Netherlands.    

Smith, who made 61 off 95, batted in whites in Africa for the first time the Cape Town ordeal eight years ago, also had time called on him with Alex Carey replacing him after tea.

Travis Head (caught at gully for 22) and Renshaw (edged behind for 32) both made starts, with the latter showing no ill-effects of the hand injury he picked up while fielding on same ground in Wednesday's ODI series finale.

Renshaw is also readjusting to opening the batting after his middle-order role in the ODI side.

"I had a good couple of days of recovery and fortunately nothing serious in there, just a bit of swelling," Renshaw said of the knock he took to his right hand on Wednesday.

"It was nice to face some (fast) bowlers. The one-day series was a lot of spin, so it was a completely different scenario for me going to face the new red ball. I felt like my rhythm was going pretty well.

"It's still having good positivity. It's more just picking the right ball, especially when you're batting out there with 'Trav'. It's sort of calming yourself down a lot because you know that he's going to be going pretty hard and playing some nice shots.

"Just knowing that there's no rush and you can just bat."

Beau Webster was also retired after making 42 batting in Green's spot at No.5, while Carey raced to 57 before hitting the left-arm spin of first-day centurion Neil Brand to cover.

Cooper Connolly was on 20no when play was called due to bad light after Australia had batted for 74 overs, reaching 3-368 in reply to the CSA XI's 7-318 declared.

CSA Invitational XI for tour match against Australia: Lesego Senokwane, Tladi Bokako, Neil Brand, Wilco de Bruin, Jade de Klerk, Tshepang Dithole, Jean du Plessis, CJ King, Mthiwekhaya Nabe, Jiveshan Pillay, Joshua Richards, Ntando Soni, Jorich van Schalkwyk

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

Warm-up match: Match drawn (Australia led on first innings)

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa's first Test preliminary squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster