SA vs AUS: Marnus Labuschagne serves timely reminder to selectors with gritty knock as World Cup approaches

Despite being left out of Australia's 15-member ODI World Cup squad, Marnus Labuschagne doesn't seem crestfallen as the right-handed batter played a stupendous knock against South Africa in the first ODI of the ongoing five-match series on Thursday to win the game for his side.

Not named in the playing XI initially, Labuschagne was drafted into the XI as a concussion substitute after a vicious bouncer from Kagiso Rabada struck allrounder Cameron Green flush on the helmet. Green was subbed out as a precautionary measure and it allowed Labuschagne to show the national selectors his worth as a middle-order batter in ODI cricket.

The 29-year-old batter came into bat in the 12th over with half the Australian side back in the hutch. With the team in a precarious situation, Labuschagne had a dual role to play - prevent the fall of wickets from his end and anchor the chase. The South African-born dug in and weathered the storm to near perfection.

He scored an unbeaten 80 off just 93 balls in a tense run chase that demanded aplomb. Labuschagne's knock included eight fours and was devoid of any risky strokes but still came at an impressive strike rate of 86.02 considering the magnitude of the chase.

At one time it looked like he was going to get stranded in the middle by the pace at which his fellow batters kept getting out but spin-bowling allrounder Ashton Agar showed some steely resolve and scripted a rearguard action as good as any to win the game for the Aussies. Agar scored 48* off 69 balls and hit three fours and a six. He gave ample support to the Player of the Match Labuschagne and helped the visitors cross the line in 40.2 overs with three wickets in hand.

Though Australia have already announced their squad for the marquee 50-overs tournament in India, teams can still tweak their squads till September 28 - a deadline that still brings optimism for Labuschagne.