Brisbane [Australia], October 16 (ANI): As the Ashes 2025 series against England approaches, Australian right-handed batter Marnus Labuschagne has signalled a strong return to form, notching up four centuries in his last five domestic appearances across two formats.

Labuschagne continued his resurgence on Thursday, scoring a composed 159 for Queensland in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield at the Adelaide Oval. His knock helped Queensland post 319/6 before bad light brought an early end to proceedings on the second day.

The 29-year-old's current purple patch began during the Marsh One-Day Cup clash against Victoria, where he struck 130. Though he managed only 2 runs in the subsequent match against Western Australia, Labuschagne rebounded strongly with a 160-run innings against Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield.

Two days later, facing the same opponent in the One-Day Cup, Labuschagne, who captains the Queensland side, smashed a 91-ball 105, including eight boundaries and two sixes, at a strike rate exceeding 115.

It was his century, and quality knocks from Jack Clayton (64 in 51 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Matt Renshaw (38 in 35 balls, with three fours and two sixes) took his side to 311 runs, which Tasmania chased down due to fiery knocks of Caleb Jewell (79 in 76 balls, with 13 fours), Tim Ward (105 in 96 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Jordan Silk (85* in 61 balls, with nine fours and a six).

Having not registered even a half-century in his last 10 ODI innings and scoring just 138 runs with a best score of 47, Labuschagne was dropped from the ODI squad for three matches at home against India from October 19 onwards.

Labuschagne is without a century in his past 49 international matches, having scored just 12 fifties in 57 innings at an average of less than 30.

His form has been even worse in red-ball cricket, with his last Test century coming against England back in July 2023. Since then, he has been able to muster just 668 runs in 16 matches and 30 innings at an average of 24.74, with seven fifties and a best score of 90. While he was selected for the West Indies tour this year for the Test matches, he did not get to play a single match.

With the first ball of the home Ashes to be bowled on November 21 at Perth, Labuschagne would be aiming to continue with his domestic grind, score a truckload of runs to earn back his place in the team. (ANI)