PAARL: Australia`s Marnus Labuschagne is excited at the prospect of going up against the land of his birth when their One Day International series against South Africa starts atPaarlonSaturday.

The 25-year-old was born in Klerksdorp, some 170km north west of Johannesburg, and moved to Australia at the age of nine.

`I`ve never played over here so its going to be exciting,` he told a news conference.

`I have a lot of family coming to the second and third games in Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom, probably north of 20. It depends on how many tickets I can get! Grandparents, aunties, uncles, family friends, theyre all coming.

`It`s the first time they`ve seen me play cricl(et since I was a very small kid. They saw me loving cricket as a kid but only seen my career from a distance. It`s going to be really nice to share that with them.

`I played a little bit of cricket at primary school in Potchefstroom but the rest of my cricket has been in Australia,` said Labuschagne.

He made an inauspicious start to his Test career in late 2018 but made the most of a late call-up in last years Ashes to cement a place in the test side.

He wants to do the same now with the ODI team after his debut in India last month.

`I loved it, India was crazy. I love the pressure and the atmosphere over there, it was a great opportunity to play. Obviously that role at number four is a spot I want to continue to try and be successf ul in.`-Reuters