Marnus says his three-format ambition will buck trend

Marnus Labuschagne believes he is swimming against the tide in setting his sights on becoming a three-format player for Australia.

A Test superstar who appears on the verge of becoming a key middle-order figure for the ODI side, Labuschagne has played just one T20I – debuting against Pakistan in April – and just 32 matches in the shortest format overall.

The 28-year-old today re-signed with Brisbane Heat on a one-year deal and looks well placed to appear in potentially six matches – as many as he has played in any previous BBL season.

Labuschagne's best T20 campaign came last year with Glamorgan in the UK's T20 Blast, during which he averaged 55 while striking at 140 across eight matches, and collecting nine wickets.

"I always want to play for Australia as much as I can," he said today. "It's just about taking opportunities. Playing for Australia will come if I continue to perform … with the Brisbane Heat and with Glamorgan in the T20 Blast.

"I've just got to keep growing and learning my game. That's what it's all about. The selection stuff is out of my control, it's just got to happen naturally as I perform in T20 cricket."

Labuschagne has long been backed to become an all-format player – both David Warner and Darren Lehmann forecast that as his path in 2019 – but the man himself believes such a status will become increasingly rare given the hectic nature of the international and domestic cricket calendar, which he says will further the likelihood of players specialising.

"A lot of talk's been about the schedule being so full," he said. "I think we'll just see less and less three-format players.

"I don't think there'll be that many of them because the T20 game is just skyrocketing – there's so many competitions now, there's guys that are playing so much cricket.

"The gap between long-format cricket and short-format cricket is just going to get bigger and bigger."

Labuschagne's return to the Heat is another boost for the Big Bash as it looks to compete in a growing marketplace, with the right-hander describing the arrival of more domestic leagues through the southern hemisphere as presenting the Australian tournament with "an ongoing challenge".

"We've got two (other) competitions in our window now with the South African league and the UAE league … which is important, because I think we need to make sure our product is the best, so we do get the best players coming in and playing in our competition," he said.

"If we can have that, there should be no issue. Hopefully this year is a big steppingstone towards getting our competition back to its absolute best."

On a day where Test batter Travis Head also recommitted to Adelaide Strikers via a two-year contract extension, Labuschagne said more Australia players (whose calendars have been briefly cleared due to South Africa's withdrawal from a slated ODI series in January) would add significantly to the BBL, however their respective decisions to play would be contingent on a number of factors.

"We're available to play, but everyone's different," he added. "You've got people with young families, you've got people with really high workloads who are playing three formats all the time.

"So it's hard to expect those guys to always be available. Hopefully we get a lot of those Test guys playing because it's great for the competition, but everyone's got to make their own decision."

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