Marnus Labuschagne has been praised for his “selfless” act that could save the career of David Warner, who is chasing a drought-breaking century in his 100th Test.
A mix-up between the wickets saw Labuschagne sacrifice himself for out-of-form Warner on day two of the Boxing Day Test.
Warner punched South African paceman Anrich Nortje through cover for a straightforward single, before an overthrow saw him call for a second run.
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Labuschagne wasn’t expecting the second and initially sent Warner back but then committed after realising how far his partner was down the wicket.
Labuschagne dived at the non-striker’s end but a strong throw from Keshav Maharaj ran him out by half a metre as Warner hung his head at the other end.
“Oh he sends him back, there’s real trouble here,” Mark Howard said on Fox Cricket.
“Labuschagne looks like he’s got a problem, that’s the end they went to, they were almost shaking hands in the middle and I don’t think it looks good for Marnus.”
South African great Shaun Pollock praised Labuschagne’s selflessness but emphasised teammates must match Warner’s intensity between the wickets.
“He’s filthy, both his clothes and probably in his mind at this stage. It’s a real bonus wicket for South Africa,” Pollock said.
“Warner’s running between the wickets is absolutely brilliant, the intensity that he brings, but you have to have everybody in the team on the same wavelength when they’re running with him.
“It’s difficult to get people on that mindset… We used to have the same problem with Jonty Rhodes.
“Every once in a while you need to remember it’s a cricket match and not an athletics event.”
“It’s given South Africa a wicket they so desperately required and given them a little bit of momentum.
“You can see how distraught Labuschagne is, 14 runs, felt like he was getting himself settled but he has to be on his way.
“Very unselfish, 100th Test match for David Warner and Labuschagne decided I’ll take the risk, I’ll be the one that might have to scuttle and put the dive in to try and get home.”
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Kerry O’Keeffe echoed the sentiment and as Fox Cricket revealed no one has been run-out more than Labuschagne (five times) since his Test debut in October, 2018.
“The most selfless thing we’ve seen in a long time,” O’Keeffe said.
“He realised out of the corner of his eye how committed David was, and David thought about turning back and going to the danger end and Marnus said no I’ll go, despite being completely gone for.
“There has been some freneticism about his running, he’s always looking to turn one into two and he thought there was two immediately, he realised too late that Marnus had overcomitted past the crease.
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“Sometimes frenetic running between the wickets, trying to pinch the extra, can undo you and it has there.”
Warner was slammed on social media and barely celebrated bringing up his 50 in the following over.
The 35-year-old is now on the cusp of his first Test century sinc January, 2020.
