The summer of Marnus moves to its next phase on Thursday night, and having traded the whites for Aussie gold already, he’ll now switch again into the teal of the Brisbane Heat as they attempt to resurrect their Big Bash League finals tilt.
Labuschagne and the Heat will be facing off with the Sydney Sixers at the Gabba in Brisbane, with the Sixers also set to welcome back Josh Hazlewood and Marnus’ big brother, Steve Smith.
The inclusion of some middle-order starch can’t come quick enough for Brisbane, who – you might recall I discovered a few weeks ago – had been tracking a lot better than their scorecard was showing.
In the last few weeks though, they’ve fallen in a massive heap.
Brisbane have always been a one-speed team with bat in hand. Their whole identity over the years has been built around the ‘Bash Brothers’ – the top order pairing of Chris Lynn and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.
Brendon McCullum feeling the Heat (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Sometimes they fired and were damn near unbeatable. Of the 23 totals of 200 or more over the nine seasons of the BBL, the Heat posted seven of them. All came batting first.
But their problem has always been around when they didn’t fire with the bat, and that’s continued to be their issue this season, their first without McCullum.
Their batting this year has been very Brisbane: at times brilliant, other times terrible.
In their 11 games, they’ve been bowled out four times, and on two other occasions they’ve lost eight wickets. Their top order hasn’t gone the distance more often than it has.
The common denominator has been collapses, highlighted by their losing 10-36 on Sunday night against the Renegades, officially the worst ten-wicket collapse in BBL history. But that was just the most recent one.
In the first game of the season, against the Thunder in Sydney, the Heat lost their last 5-30 to be bowled out for 143, chasing the Thunder’s 172.
A few days later, they lost 3-30 in the top order and 4-21 down lower to finish 8-145 chasing 168 to win against the Melbourne Stars on the Gold Coast.
On New Year’s Day, Brisbane lost their first 7-51 to be rolled for 109, in reply to Perth’s 149, again on the Gold Coast.
Last Friday, they lost their last 7-47 to be all out 100 batting first in Adelaide. On Sunday, it was their last 10-36 after losing their first wicket at 84, on the way to being all out 120.
Sam Heazlett and Lynn had been superb in the powerplay, only for Lynn to fall off the last ball of the sixth over. It was the start of the rot, and though McCullum did his best to excuse Lynn from the criticism in commentary alongside on the Seven Network, Ricky Ponting argued Lynn had to find a way of pacing his innings once he was in early and scoring freely.
Instead, Lynn’s departure for 41 from just 15 balls in the powerplay started the rot, and led to what Ponting described as “one of the all-time great chokes”.
At least Lynn didn’t mince his words, calling the performance “piss poor”.
“We got off to a flyer. These guys that are playing, they’re not first, they’re not second-gamers, they’re four, five years into the tournament,” he said post-match, standing out on the Gabba surface with Ponting and McCullum.
“We’re doing all the right things at training, but I don’t know what goes on out in the middle because we just seem to panic.
“And then it’s not just a wicket or two, it’s a train wreck.”
Chris Lynn (Photo: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
He’s not wrong, and if the Heat are serious, they’ll completely overhaul their batting plans for next season.
Too many of their underperforming bats have come from the Bulls’ squad, surviving on potential rather than results. Yet strangely, someone like South Australia’s Alex Ross was let go by the Heat, and has this summer provided regular reminders from the Thunder middle order of what they’ve lost.
But nor can the expectation be that South African supremo AB de Villiers and now Labuschagne will now just fix all problems. If de Villiers and Labuschagne fire the Heat deep into the finals, the issue will still need addressing. Particularly given de Villiers won’t be around forever and Labuschagne will be a sporadic participant at best in the years to come.
Yet with all this said, I’m still not game to put the line through the Heat for BBL|09. For all their issues, and for all their inability to halt the train before it plummets off the cliff, they remain a dangerous side.
The summer of Marnus isn’t a panacea for Brisbane’s deep-rooted problems.
The Heat urgently need to find other gears. They can’t just be on or off.
Luke S
Roar Rookie
Bobbo7
Guest
They are a bat first team. I doubt they will fall in a heap again with ABD and Marnus playing. I'm sure ABD won't go out trying to be a hero again.
Brett McKay
Expert
Even Adelaide, Big D. They seem pretty good at working out where their weaknesses are and recruit accordingly..
Brett McKay
Expert
I don't feel so bad about wavering then, Dingo!
Brett McKay
Expert
You said it yourself, Marshall, he's only batted twice. And if you're not counting the innings where he got runs (and batted pretty well, for mine) , then there's only one failure isn't there. I think to label his two games so far a major disappointment on the back of one failure is more than a touch harsh..
Rocky
Roar Rookie
1 shud not expect Marnus to become saviour in BBL, let him concentrate on his international assignments
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, no matter how well you are hitting them, a batsman shouldn't be getting caught by an outfielder in the powerplay. There are only 2 out. Masses of space. If you are so restricted in the areas you can hit the ball that even with only two fieldsmen outside the circle you have to just try and clear the fieldsman instead of hitting it somewhere there isn't one, then I think you have issues. I've never played cricket at that level, but certainly at the levels I did play, the first thought was always checking where the field was and hitting the ball where it wasn't. If they moved the field to plug up that gap then I'd hit it where they took the fieldsman from, even when I was hitting the ball 30-40 metres over the boundary! That way, at least a mis-hit was still safe! It really frustrates me the number of times players hit the ball pretty much exactly where they were aiming it, and it's a catch straight to the fieldsman just because they didn't quite hit it far enough. Fair enough a complete mishit that skews off the bat and goes somewhere completely different from where they've aimed the ball, but to basically have it come right off the face of the bat where they've aimed it, but be straight down the fieldsman's throat is just stupidity, but it's also so common.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Don't disagree on most of that Paul, but a bit harsh on Renshaw. He's 23, played 20 T20 innings with 3 50's - HS 90no - at a strikerate of 130. When he got a Test opening at 20 he was criticised for being too slow! He has a future. Lynn threw his wicket away against Melb followed by a god awful hoick from de Villiers, which brought Renshaw out to get a good 1st up ball. Gotta reckon the experienced guys were the problem in losing 3/2!
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
More than a bit, Chris; the old adage of 90% mental, 10% physical has always rung true to me. That's why 'banter" works. I agree the 'back yourself' philosophy is flawed. Brisbane came unstuck as Lynn backed himself, Renshaw got a pretty good ball and de Villiers 'backed himself'. The romanticism and advertising hype of rare talents Lynn & de Villiers (bash brothers - yawn!) destroying bowlers with heavy restrictions, still doesn't change the reality that they could - and did - lose 3 for buggerall! It was funny hearing noted slogger McCullum saying Lynn was fine to keep swinging - even though he picked out the only guy in 50m - but the rest imploded. I'd suggest Lynn imploded and Renshaw shouldn't have been out there to face the good ball he got. I'd also suggest that McCullum imploded in the first over of the 2015 CWC Final by walking at Starc after he he'd had a couple of balls to realise Starc was swinging it at 150kph. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say his recent comment is because in hindsight he realised he imploded then!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
But batting still requires using the brain a bit, assessing conditions, and understanding when swinging hard is likely to work and get a big score, and when it's likely to just lead to a collapse. Maybe a good way to start is to not just ignore the field and "back yourself" to clear the outfielders every time even when you aren't really in yet and haven't managed to hit anything. Even in T20 cricket you still need to use the head a bit when batting.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The thing is with the Heat, no matter how much of a train wreck they seem to be, on any given game you never know if that is going to be the game where Lynn will smack 100 off 40 balls and they'll pile up 220 or if they'll collapse and be rolled for under 100. If they manage to get the conditions to suit and they swinging comes off they could beat anyone. So if they make the finals and then suddenly find themselves on a couple of absolutely, totally flat pitches where they can pile up big runs, they could come from nowhere.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
A big part of batting is always about good decision making in the middle, making sure you are playing the right shot to the right ball. You may be able to play every shot in the book and have great power, but if you keep making wrong decisions as to which of those shots you should be playing, then all that is meaningless. A simple rule of thumb, until you know you are in, hitting them well, and only a few overs to go so you really need to go hard, is to not try to be clearing fieldsmen on the boundary too often. Work out what shots you can hit where a mis-hit just means you only get 2 or 4 instead of 6, rather than it's either six or out.
Big Daddy
Guest
They should take a leaf out of Sixers book. Not a team of superstar s but have a definite plan. Their lull through the wet wickets is an example on how to come back.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
I’m a Heat man through and through I’ve completely lost any confidence in the way they are playing… The team environment is a joke. Look at what it’s brought the Great AB De Villers to? They are absolutely no chance of winning the BBL. Not even Marnus can save this train wreck.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
The Heat are garbage. Too many jobs for the boys, too many blokes who as you say keep getting a run simply for being good Queenslanders, rather than being good players. Cutting is a prime example. Has one good innings a season, goes for 10 an over routinely and is a pretty ordinary fielder to boot. Pierson can't even strike at 100, Burns is out of his depth in this format, Renshaw is not a natural either. We got rid of guys like Steketee, but still keep trundlers like Lalor. Ultimately the issue is that the BBL has a gap the size of the galaxy between the best 10 players and the worst 10 players in the competition as a whole, and we are seeing the impact of having these lesser lights holding down first team spots regularly. The Heat also play dumb cricket with a dumb attitude and approach that doesn't allow for adaptation or variability as the match progresses, which is perhaps reflective of the attitude and approach that characterised the tenure of their new head coach in his previous roles.
Marshall
Guest
AB has been a major dissapointment, Rolled for 100 twice since he joined, and the one game he got a score it didnt matter as we were chasing 100 with zero pressure. Spend a whole bunch of cash, market it ad nauseam when he is playing less than half the season and having little impact. Would be better off spending that cash on a couple of top tier domestic players and just keeping Banton around.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
If you're going to have largish scores from swinging, you're going to have collapses. Law of averages. It's not like they're the only slogball team this has happened to.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Lynn got it spot on: "We’re doing all the right things at training, but I don’t know what goes on out in the middle because we just seem to panic." In other words, the problem is mental. That team has the technical skills in it to do very well, but they seem to have a problem putting it all to good use consistently. And isn't that a coaching issue?