Steven Smith has revealed that Marnus Labuschagne told him before the season that he would be back in the Test side by the start of the Ashes.

Though that decision has yet to be rubberstamped by the Australia selectors , Labuschagne is all-but certain to earn a recall having made two Sheffield Shield centuries in two matches - and four hundreds in five innings across the early domestic season - in a prolific return to form after being dropped in the West Indies earlier this year.

"I sent him a message a couple of days ago saying how proud I was of him," Smith said. "He's just gone back and he's got his fourth hundred in five hits. It's a pretty big statement. He said to me at the start of the summer, he goes, 'I'll be in that Test team come the first [Ashes] Test'. He's backed up hi

See Full Page