Australia test skipper Tim Paine has tipped Marnus Labuschagne to be a future captain and says the top-order batsman’s natural leadership qualities make him a great fit for the role. Labuschagne has grown in stature in the Australian set-up and is currently the third-ranked batsman in Test cricket.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Marnus Labuschagne is a great thinker of the game, says Paine
• Tim Paine has been impressed by Labuschagne’s enthusiasm
• Marnus Labuschagne has made his Test debut against Pakistan in 2018

Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has said that top-order batsman Marnus Labuschagne can become a future captain as his natural leadership qualities make him an excellent fit for the role.

“I think he’d be a good (leader),” Paine told reporters from Brisbane on Monday.

“Marnus is a great thinker of the game. He’s a good team man, he’s got so much enthusiasm for his team and the game,” said Paine.

Paine has been impressed by Labuschagne’s enthusiasm and expects the prolific batsman to play a more prominent role in the near future.

“With Marnus, it’s about him evolving into leading more and being more of a leader. He’s come into our group and been a really infectious, energetic guy, which has been fantastic for our team. Still, I think in terms of our cricket team improving and Marnus evolving, I think in the next couple of years, we’ll definitely see him take the step up,” said Paine.

However, Labuschagne’s lack of captaincy experience at the state level has at least in part been the product of a Queensland squad boasting a seasoned leader in Usman Khawaja.

Australia’s two-time World Cup winning skipper Ricky Ponting identified Marnus Labuschagne as a potential leader in January 2020.

“He will come into the conversation in 12-18 months, once he’s properly established himself in the team,” Ponting predicted.

“He seems like the right sort of guy to maybe be a captain down the track at some point,” said Ponting.

Labuschagne was omitted from Australia’s preliminary white-ball squad for the upcoming tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh, with selectors content to see him instead push his case for the T20 World Cup via the T20 Vitality Blast.

Tim Paine took over as test captain in 2018 when he replaced Steve Smith, who was banned from international cricket for 12 months and suspended from leadership roles for two years for his role in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal.