Marnus Labuschagne won legion fans during the Ashes with his mix of grit, intelligence and classical strokeplay. The one common criticism of him leading into this series was his inability to convert his frequent 50s into big, match-shaping scores.
At first-class level he had the poor conversion rate of nine tons and 29 half-centuries. In Tests he had been impressive but had yet to make a century from nine matches. Labuschagne had looked in prime touch in the Sheffield Shield this summer yet had not converted any of his four 50s for Queensland.
It is an odd shortcoming to have as a batsman, the inability to make the most of good starts. Batting is meant to be at its hardest in the first hour at the crease before getting easier and easier from then on.
For some reason, though, certain batsmen encounter a mental block once they pass 50. There are few better examples than Labuschagne’s Test teammate Travis Head, who has reached 50 no fewer than 54 times in first-class cricket yet has made only 11 tons. That bad habit has continued in Test cricket, where Head has converted just one of his seven 50s.
(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
For Labuschagne, his first season in English county cricket this year has changed him in many ways. Up until he landed in England, the 25-year-old had made a paltry four tons from 50 first-class matches. That was an extremely low total for a player of his obvious talents.
Since then, Labsuchagne has churned out six tons from just 21 first-class matches amid a monster haul of 1975 runs at 62.
Australian coach Justin Langer has repeatedly praised Labuschagne’s extreme passion for cricket and his voracious appetite for batting. He rivals renowned cricket tragic Steve Smith in his obsession for the sport and for improvement.
Labuschagne reportedly works at his game relentlessly. He also is a fitness fanatic, like Langer was as a player. Yesterday, as Labuschagne batted on and on and on, these attributes came to the fore. While some batsmen, once they are well past 100, can start to look a bit lazy or contented or fatigued, Labuschagne appeared fresh, focused and hungry.
As the players left the ground for the tea break he could have been forgiven for looking drained. Labuschagne was, after all, on 171*. Instead the youngster was striding energetically, joking and smiling with his captain Tim Paine. He looked as if he had just started batting, not as though he’d been out there for two full sessions.
In this way he reminded me of Smith, the batting machine, for whom enough runs are never enough. In Smith’s mind 50 should always become 100, which should make way for 150 and then be replaced by 200. Labuschagne yesterday seemed to be playing with this same admirable greed.
While he never seemed to be batting for himself, to be aiming for milestones, Labuschagne’s aggression was controlled. Again and again he respected the good balls and then flayed anything in his scoring zones.
When finally he was dismissed, playing a rare loose shot, Labuschagne’s reaction was telling. For nearly ten seconds he was crouched at the crease, with disbelief and disappointment etched on his face.
This was not a satisfied cricketer. This was a batsman whose first thought upon being dismissed, even after making 185 in front of his home crowd, seemed to be, “Damnit, I’ve left runs on the table”.
Maybe that was a force of habit given how many times he had wasted good starts prior to his golden summer in England. This time, though, Labuschagne had made the most of his opportunity. He had turned a neat 50 into a sparkling 100 and then a big ton. In the process he provided further evidence of why many observers consider him one of the most promising young Test cricketers on the planet.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The Moon is plasma
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
It'd be a miracle if it was the Pope
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
ever since john inverarity resurrected sean marsh's career because "he's in a good headspace" (despite lack of runs) , cricket selectors acting as psychologists make me want to puke. for a while every fringe batting candidate would talk about their "headspace", most notably phillip hughes, now we have to listen to "how much i love cricket/batting". thanks langer. can we stop already?
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
They tell me slabs are hard to pour up there. Something to do with the lack of gravity.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
No worries, we'll need time for NASA to do soil tests and book Elon for a site inspection anyway!
HR
Roar Rookie
Rameez Raja was talking about this (the importance of context to runs) on the radio commentary - he nominated an innings of 40 as his best, because it guided Pakistan to a win in the deciding test of a series against India. Marnus' innings in England steadied the ship a fair few times, and without him out there I suspect we might have seen a different result.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
That’s why it’s not even remotely possible mate, he would finish his test career with 70, 50,s and no hundreds
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
More of a joke than a serious bet Nudge. I just want someone to do it and I thought he might be the man. It would be quite a feat if you think about it. With no tons you would have to get an awful lot of 60's and 70's to average 50.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
That would have to be the silliest bet I’ve heard DB. I can’t even see how It is possible you could have won
matth
Roar Guru
I still can’t believe on Day 1 that Pakistan bowled lesS than 30 balls from around the wicket to Warner. Did they not do any homework at all?
matth
Roar Guru
For every Smith there’s a Cameron White
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Mate, I'd settle for a leg spinning all-rounder who established himself as a brilliant leg spinner and a crap bat too.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
He clearly hasn't forgotten how to play the on-drive since then. Some luscious ones in that innings the other day.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Those innings in England were worth their weight in gold. He did exactly what Smith needed someone to do. Stick with for a while.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
You beauty. Done. .. could be a while before I can sign a contract though. All those old debts you see :)
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Usman who?
DTM
Guest
Good on Marnus for a great innings - he looks compact and organised. He looks to have a long future as a number 3. The hunger for runs is not enough (I too had a hunger like Steve Smith's but didn't have the talent to get passed 3rd grade!). So, talent is necessary and Marnus has that!
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
I've got 4 hectares on the moon you can buy, Bob......whenever you're cashed up again.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Labuschagne certainly is a student of the game and has taken on Smith’s revival of the 10,000 hours training regime. Cricketers are superstitious creatures a lot of the time too, so it seems Loose-bus-change has attributed Smith’s extravagant leaves as requiring mimicking too, just as Wade and others release their batting glove tabs every ball like Warner does. Speaking of which, the Pakistan bowlers showed their inexperience against Warner by allowing him to dictate the game pace by continually stepping back and playing with his gloves. Especially Yasir, who was ready to come in a number of times and Warner was playing glove tab. I woulda attempted to bowl and called the umpire on it. He faced a dot ball with the ball back in the bowlers hand ten seconds later, surely the batsman has to be ready. Sadly, umpires are becoming irrelevant and realistically if everything is going to a review then use local umpires to save on transport and give each team five reviews. The over rates have been poor and the umpires don’t seem to be hustling players along. Also this garbage of stopping games every ten minutes for a batsman who saw a patron raise a glass in the fourth tier above the icebergs created now as sight screens is ludicrous. The umpire needs to make a show of standing in the batsman spot and telling him the ground crew got the size right and to get on with it. Blaming a paying patron for twitching a finger in tier 4 row z above an Imax screen is wasting time.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Well done Marnus. The amazing thing is that his first class average at the end of the last Australian season was 32. That was very modest, however hungry he may have been. As others have suggested, a season in County cricket and adjustments to his technique have made a difference. I’d also suggest that we can get too carried away with the significance of centuries. A couple of his 80s in England were as valuable as many centuries, given the conditions and the opposition.