Ashes 2023: Labuschagne eyes change!

Frustrated after a duck and 13 in Ashes opener, Australia’s No. 3 batter Marnus will do whatever it takes tactically and technically to raise his standard against England in the second Test, starting tomorrow at Lord’s

Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne has said that he holds himself to a much higher standard after his struggle in the Ashes opener as he has been studying where things went wrong for him in Edgbaston. Labuschagne will make a return to Lord’s for the second Test, which holds significance as it was the venue where his career gained momentum in 2019 when he replaced Smith as a concussion substitute. Since then, he has showcased remarkable consistency, accumulating 10 Test centuries and occasionally maintaining an average above 60. But he is currently experiencing a relatively less productive phase, having scored two half-centuries and maintaining an average of 33.14 in his previous 17 innings.

‘Uncharacteristic dismissals’

The 29-year-old failed to perform in the Ashes opener as the batter got out for a duck in the first innings and followed it up with a score of 13 in the second innings. As a result, he lost his place at the top of the world Test rankings to England’s Joe Root. “They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I’ve usually played. That’s why I was pretty frustrated with myself to get out that way and asked myself the question, ‘why did I play at those deliveries?,” Labuschagne said of his dismissals at Edgbaston, confirming that he’s backing himself to find the answer. He was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“I’ve come up with my own summation of what that is. Now it’s if there’s anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s a rarity that I’d play at those balls, so it’s not something I’m going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals,” he added.

Ponting’s support

However, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting expressed his support for Labuschagne’s resurgence to peak performance and had offered some technical advice to the No. 3 batter. “I think he’s over-complicating things a little bit. I think he has to trust and believe in what’s made him the number two-ranked Test batsman in the world for the last couple of years and go back to trusting that. “I would actually tell him to go and watch some footage and watch some videos of when he’s actually played his best, and remember those things and go and do that all over again,” Ponting told the ICC Review last weekend.

One
No of Test matches Marnus Labuschagne has played at Lord’s. He scored 59 in his only innings at the iconic London venue

366
No of runs scored by Labuschagne in five Tests against England on English soil @ 40.66    

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