Marnus Labuschagne's muted Newlands net fuels selection doubt before Cape Town decider

Two days out from the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town, Australia's main training session on Sunday was less about routine and more about reading the room. And the room, where Marnus Labuschagne was concerned, looked decidedly uneasy.

On Sunday morning, Labuschagne walked out to the middle of Newlands with Josh Inglis in tow. Inglis was already padded up and ready to go, while Australia's incumbent No. 3 dragged his kit along in conversation. The fit-again Western Australian right-hander walked straight into the net to face Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Labuschagne, meanwhile, grabbed a red-white two-piece ball and began bowling some leg-spin to Inglis and Cameron Green — more going through the motions, mainly impersonating the late Shane Warne's action.

It was not the usual Marnus, all peppy and trying to get the better of the batters, who were soon joined by Beau Webster on the centre-wicket. There was little that seemed customary about the 32-year-old's time at Newlands.

An animated conversation

Labuschagne bowled fewer than a dozen deliveries before walking off to join Steve Smith, who batted for only around 15 minutes in the nets at the back, and head coach Andrew McDonald. It was an animated chat, as you'd expect with Smith and Labuschagne involved, and at one point the senior partner put a comforting arm around his fellow batting buff.

The rather conspicuous discussion between the three went on for a good 20 minutes before Labuschagne finally walked over to put on his pads to face Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland. By which time, Green, Inglis and Beau Webster had used up the bulk of the batting session facing the captain and Australia's new-ball supremo.

There were enough cues to suggest that Labuschagne might have been informed about being left out of the decider that starts on Tuesday. There were, however, also enough hints to suggest that he was simply doing things differently this time around, or maybe even preparing for a slightly different role in the top order. The fact is that this was a day to speculate — as is the case when a team goes down comprehensively, and that too by an innings, like Australia did in Gqeberha.

A flat batting stint

Coming back to Labuschagne, it was one of the more underwhelming nets sessions of the tour. There were three occasions on which he was nicked off by the seamers he faced, once each by Hazlewood, Boland and Webster. But in contrast to his usual reactions to 'getting out' in the nets — where you'd see him protest or at least question whether the ball 'would have carried to the slips' — he simply stood there unhappy with himself for having made the error.

There were times he looked to have his game in order but there was a definite lack of energy in his body language as he batted on. It was also one of the rare occasions where he didn't feel the need to face throwdowns from Michael Di Venuto in the nets, instead facing James Franklin and Matthew Wade with their wangers. There were moments where Labuschagne looked as he had in the early stages of the Test tour of the Caribbean last year, when he was left out of the XI for the entire series. But to categorically link any of this to him having been dropped would be unfair. Maybe it was just a case of a top-order batter, under fire for nearly a couple of years, finally letting the pressure show.

Green's sharpened claims

There was further intrigue around a few other players who did look more at peace with the world on Sunday. Green looked at his sharpest in the nets, just like he had a day earlier, against a mixture of Franklin giving throwdowns and Michael Neser running in with the new ball. It was interesting to see him bat for quite a while against the new ball, furthering suggestions that he might come back into the team at No. 3, where he'd batted in the West Indies last year as a specialist batter.

What that could then mean for Labuschagne remains to be seen, considering Matt Renshaw faced the same combination of operators with the new ball for quite a while. Renshaw and Travis Head weren't present for training on Sunday, having taken the day off.

Bowlers and the surface

All four fast bowlers, by the way, ran in and bowled at full tilt in pairs. Nathan Lyon wheeled away for a long spell too before doing laps around the ground with Starc. With the grass cover on the Newlands surface continuing to reduce with each day as the start of the third Test approaches, there's every chance Lyon comes right back into the mix — even if it remains unclear as to which of the fast bowlers he might replace.

But like every other piece of speculation thrown around on Sunday, there are no prizes for guessing which combination Australia finally land on.