Australia coach Andrew McDonald implores Marnus Labuschagne to 'get busier' amid lean patch

Marnus Labuschagne has once again been implored to show intent at the crease after another lean patch following his Ashes recall.

Labuschagne came into the summer outside of Australia's Test squad after he was dropped following the World Test Championship final.

The 31-year-old then made himself irresistible for selection with his Sheffield Shield form and looked like he was back to old ways with a half-century in the second innings at Perth.

READ MORE: Boxing champ Joshua pulled alive from fatal car crash

READ MORE: MCG docked points by ICC for 'unsatisfactory' pitch

READ MORE: Lyon out for months while Hazlewood on track for World Cup

Labuschagne backed that up by hitting 65 in the first innings at the Gabba but has since tailed off with scores of 3, 19, 13, 6 and 8.

The dismissals at the MCG were of the most concern with Labuschagne edging outside off stump on both occasions.

During his lean period prior to the WTC final, many teammates and coaches had commented on the No.3 batter's need to show more intent against bowlers.

Coach Andrew McDonald was once again reiterating that point to media on Monday.

"I think with Marn - and he won't mind me saying this - it's probably when he loses his intent to score, he gets himself in bad positions," he said.

"His Shield work early in the season and even his one-day batting was outstanding and it's when he's putting pressure back onto the bowlers and looking to score. There's periods where he goes back into his shell and really trusts his defence and I think within that, creates a little bit of error in his game.

"He's working on it, we saw early in the summer how he played. It's a difficult game and batting on some of these surfaces is tricky. It's about having that mindset of going out there and scoring runs and we've been consistent in that view from our end.

"We think it's a mindset piece and his intent to score … we'd like to see him get busier in his innings. He still averages in the 40-plus in Test cricket, he's had a lean period, but he's a quality player."

Labuschagne's last Test century was in July 2023 against England.

The right-hander isn't the only Australian player under pressure as questions swirl around the form of Cameron Green.

Since Australia's tour of the West Indies, Green has been switched from No.3 to No.5 and No.7 in the batting order and in this series has scored 112 runs at 18.66.

Adding to the pressure for Green is the fact Beau Webster hasn't featured once in the Ashes despite a strong start to his career in the baggy green.

"People are going to debate selection," McDonald said.

"They're going to debate where Cameron is at in this point and how he fits. Beau averaged 34 and did some handy bits and bobs with the ball. We know we've got a quality player sitting there waiting. We've got a batting order that we'd like to think that can function at a higher capacity, so we'll be having conversations leading into Sydney.

"I know there's always going to be pressure zeroed in on certain individuals - media, people in the room always like to zero in on one or two and really push to potentially get a chance. But when you're 3-1 up and you've played pretty good cricket and got it slightly wrong on a surface that was tricky, what do you do?

"You guys can speculate around that and we'll make the decisions based around the surface. We like to back our players and we've shown that over a period of time.

"We'll try to make the right decisions in the process we work through and you can critique in hindsight - you do a good job of that, by the way."

The fifth Ashes Test begins in Sydney on Sunday. Australia has already won the series.