Perth: Australia’s No.3 Marnus Labuschagne has resolved to mend his flirty ways outside off stump, admitting he went away from some of the building blocks of his glittering Test career as he seeks a turnaround at home against India this summer.
He also defended skipping the recent ODI in Perth, arguing that the extra few days at home will help ensure he and other senior Test players are fresh at the pointy end of the Border-Gavaskar showdown.
Marnus Labuschagne will be relied upon to score big runs in a bumper Test summer against India.Credit: Getty Images
Labuschagne has been counselled by former England captain Michael Vaughan to force India to bowl to him this summer by leaving the ball more diligently, and it has not been hard to spot this theme running through the 30-year-old’s mind.
Too often lately Labuschagne has been defeated by the rising ball outside off stump, and a trio of Sydney batting sessions with his mentor Neil D’Costa early this season helped to crystallise that many of his recent dismissals have been to balls best left alone.
Over the past two years, Labuschagne has slipped from elite batting territory into much more mediocre areas, averaging little more than 30 in Tests since the start of 2023. That also happens to be his all-format average to start this season.
“For me, probably getting away from the process of what makes me a good player [has been a problem] and [it’s about] just making sure I stay consistent to that process and really trusting the system,” Labuschagne said in Perth on Tuesday. “My best preparation is always thinking at the other end and thinking about how they’re going to attack me, and me being able to develop and change my game to what the best method is to attack them.
“It’s going to be important for all of us – the way we play when we’re at our best, we’re playing the long game, we understand that you need to be getting them back for their second and third spells, putting them under pressure and letting them come to us, and us putting pressure back on them through overs in the field and time in the game, especially over a five-Test series.
“As you get into the third, fourth, [and] fifth Tests, if they’re trying to play the same team and those bowlers are rolling into 150 to 200 overs by the third Test, it’s going to make a big difference in the series.”
Vaughan is adamant that Labuschagne’s remedy for a recent downturn in scoring is not to be tempted too much by balls in the channel outside off stump.
“My message to Marnus would be to get back into your box and play the way you used to play,” Vaughan told this masthead on Tuesday at the Kayo cricket launch. “Play with patience, great discipline, and expect they are going to bowl fourth stump, at length, just on that channel. That’s where India are going to challenge him.
“If he can leave those balls, they are going to have to come a bit fuller, and then he will get a drive away, or they will have to go a bit straighter. I think in recent times he has almost been trying to hit the ball too much.
Marnus Labuschagne walks off the Adelaide Oval after nicking Haris Rauf.Credit: Getty Images
“When he is playing at his best he just leaves and leaves, he wears the opposition bowlers down, he gets them into a second spell, the third spell, and Kookaburra ball, as we know, as soon as it gets to 40 overs, well, it’s Christmas. But you have got to earn the right to get to 40 overs.”
India trained at Perth Stadium for the first time on Tuesday morning ahead of Friday’s first ball of the series. Team security compelled a section of the Australian media to move away from a viewing spot behind the nets because this was deemed to be too close to Virat Kohli and company.
‘My message to Marnus would be to get back into your box and play the way you used to play.’
England cricket great Michael Vaughan
There was some surprise around the cricket system when neither Labuschagne nor Steve Smith were on the plane to Perth for the third ODI against Pakistan, given the opportunity to face a quality pace attack on the same square where they would play India a couple of weeks later.
But Labuschagne argued that the decision’s wisdom would be seen in the later passages of Australia’s first five-match series against India in more than 30 years.
“It’s going to be vital come that fourth or fifth Test,” he said. “It may look a little bit strange when you’re looking at the first Test, but looking at the whole series, that’s what Cricket Australia have got their eyes on.
“We’re here to win the series and the first game everyone might be fresh and fine, but when you get to the second, third, fourth game of such a big series, that’s where the impact is going to be had.”
‘Give him two summers’: Warner urges selectors to stick with McSweeney
David Warner has urged selectors to be patient with debutant Nathan McSweeney, even if he struggles to cement the opener’s position against India this summer.
Warner backed McSweeney’s technique for the top of the order, and tipped him to be the leading run-scorer for the series.
“It’s a great time for him to come in, it’s a big series, the first time Australia is playing five Tests against India on home soil (since 1991-92). I think he has the technique, the patience to partner up with ‘Uzzy’ (Usman Khawaja) to allow himself to score big,” Warner said at Kayo and Fox Cricket’s summer launch.
Nathan McSweeney is preparing to make his Test debut in Perth.Credit: Getty Images
“I have pencilled him for the highest run-scorer this year. I am looking forward to that.
“I am also looking forward to seeing how he adapts to batting with someone like Usman Khawaja, because it’s a partnership that you have to build. I think they have the same patience, which is going to be good for them, and [will] hold the middle order in good stead.”
Warner said he had confidence McSweeney would adapt to the opening role, pointing to Khawaja’s success when shifted up the order.
Sydney Thunder captain and ex-Test star David Warner will be in the Fox Cricket commentary box this summer.Credit: Getty Images
“Uzzy started his career at three, bats at four for Queensland, opened one of the games for Queensland this year. I don’t think it’s where you bat necessarily – I think it’s where you can adapt the best,” he said.
“He is going to have to adapt to opening the batting, but I think, psychologically, (there are) batters who prefer to wait before they go out – that’s probably the only mindset (change), rather than waiting when they are nine down and having to run off the field.”
Warner urged selectors to stick with McSweeney regardless of his performances this summer, pointing to the likely retirement of Khawaja within two years.
“We just have to be patient with all the guys coming through. Uzzy, touching on 38 now, has probably got another 12 to 18 months to go. They [Australia] have got a Sri Lankan series after this, which you’ll probably see Travis Head go up the order, and Cameron Green coming back,” Warner said.
“I think you have just got to give him time. It’s not just these five Test matches. It’s the signs that you see as a talented batsman for the future. He is 25 years of age, you have got to give guys a crack.
“I know there are other guys who have been there in Marcus Harris [and] Cameron Bancroft, but it will be exciting just to see him score some runs first, [and] establish himself.
“But, if he doesn’t, just give him some time, give him maybe two summers.”
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