Former quick Brendon Julian believes the time has come for Australia to take a hard look at the Marnus Labuschagne spot in the aftermath of their disappointing loss in the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord’s. Walking a tightrope after a sustained dip, Labuschagne suffered two more failures against the South Africans, making 17 and 22 as a make-shift opener in his team’s five-wicket defeat. The Australian player finished the 2023-25 Test championship cycle with an average of 27.82 over 38 innings with only one hundred to his name. He is under immense pressure to keep his place for the start of the new two-year campaign on the tour of West Indies. While coach Andrew McDonald came out in support of the underfiring right-hander, Julian believes the selectors will have to rethink the long rope given to Labuschagne. “I think Marnus will go. There’s nothing wrong with dropping Marnus, I think he’s a good enough player to come back into the side, but he needs to go. Marnus to me is struggling. He’s not looking to score, he’s not looking to put pressure on the bowlers. He’s just hanging in there,” Julian told Fox Sports. Amidst heavy scrutiny on Labuschagne following Australia’s runners-up finish at Lord’s, McDonald had fended off suggestions to do away with the out-of-form Queenslander by insisting with age on his side, he can return to his best soon. McDonald has seen from close quarters the value Labuschagne brings to the table. The earnest cricketer missed out on big scores but produced eight fifties in the just-concluded WTC cycle, including a pair of critical knocks in Australia’s Boxing Day Test win over India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph. Labuschagne was flying high at the Test level until the start of the Ashes 2023. From famously making a return as Test cricket’s first-ever concussion substitute at Lord’s during the 2019 trip to the dominant win over India in the WTC final four years later, Labuschagne averaged 61.33 with over 3,000 runs and 10 centuries for Australia. “We’re confident he can return to his best, hence why we keep picking him. It’s at what point do we stop picking him,” McDonald told the press amid suggestions to move on from the 30-year-old.