It’s years before the time when the debate of Marnus Labuschagne’s drop in form is engrossing everyone. It’s at the Lord’s. Buzzing as always. Even when the longest format of the game is being played. And a game between Australia and England at that. You might as well expect to see a sea of fans bursting at the seams. Yet there is an arduous task for you to undertake. You have been called in as a concussion substitute for the team’s best batter and since Destiny could not get enough dopamine rush while writing challenges for you, here’s another one – you have to make an entry when two of your team fellows have already fallen within five overs of the innings. And oh, that too against the same opponent who concussed the batter you are substituting and has sent both of the players before you in.
Marnus Labuschagne was unperturbed by these voices. He has been taking the most of any and every opportunity he got, regardless of how unorthodox they were. He will do it again. And so he did, by sewing a match-saving partnership with Travis Head which later became significant in retaining the Ashes. Since that year and that knock specifically, his bat went on to churn out tons of runs. Until the run-fest stopped. Almost magically. Like the clock striking 12 in the middle of a dance turning all the magic back to mundane, the runs stopped coming for the Queenslander.
How bad are things for Marnus?
At his best, he was a menace for the opposition. Buried behind his baby face, was a beast that took pleasure in witnessing his opposition with heads in their hands. Since his coming of age in 2019, he scored eleven tons and two double-hundreds but it all came to a halt in the previous year when Labuschagne’s dip in form unfolded. So much so that his stats do not look like that of a batter who occupied the top position in rankings just a year ago. In the last 37 innings that he featured in, he has only one hundred.
The home summer for Australia, even, did not turn the tide for him. Barring three fifty-plus scores against Pakistan, he does not have much to flaunt in his six home Test scores list so far. Interestingly, he did not even reach double figures in any but two of them. Only Travis Head scored with a worse average this summer amongst the Australian batters in Tests. It is the stuff of a nightmare if you ask any batter on the planet.
What has made his form take a 360-flip?
Is he injured? Doesn’t seem so. Is he under any sort of stress? His skipper denies that. Is he making people learn how to spell his name correctly? He has made the headlines enough times since 2019 for people to at least memorize the spellings. Is there a technical flaw? This seems closest to what happened to him, many claim.
https://twitter.com/ABdeVilliers17/status/1671092703856058369
The world has known Marnus’ unusual, Smith-like off-stump defence. But not everyone is Steve Smith, not even his concussion substitute. Lately, Marnus has developed a penchant for nicking anything wide of the off stump to the slip cordon and his guard has been one of the reasons behind developing this flaw. In both matches against West Indies, where he averaged a career-low of 6.3, and the one match against New Zealand, the right-hander fell to slip fielders catching him at least in one innings.
At this point, this might have developed more into a mental block but one induced because of the said technical issue in the first place, where he forgets to leave the balls that ought to be left.
But Labuschagne’s dip in form did not influence the team as a whole, right?
In a parallel universe, sure. But sadly the one we inhabit can vouch that his form has had a toll on Australia’s batting lineup as a whole. This home Test summer was the worst for Australia in terms of batting average since 1978. Labuschagne’s run drought paired with Smith’s struggle with finding a groove in Warner’s place and Travis Head’s unsatisfactory outings seem to be the main reasons for this unwanted stat. The batting struggles at many points were concealed by the brilliant bowling and the victories the Kangaroos got eventually but the matches since the start of last year definitely paint the picture of a struggling line. Among teams who have played 10 or more Test matches since last year, only New Zealand’s top four have played with a more dismal average than Australia.
Australian management, however, likes to think differently. In Marnus’ ability to annoyingly remain stuck in anything that bothers or fancies him, they have their faith. The word has it that the South Africa-born has been working on any flaws which are halting him from achieving what he is capable of and we could be witnessing a master class by him very soon should he imitate on the ground what he does in the nets.
Besides, Labuschagne rising back to the form remains pertinent for Australia. Especially with a Test series against India in November, they would not want a weak number three position. A little luck, which has always been on his side, and the results of his hard work could make things work for the Queenslander, who easily is the link that can fix the Australian batting unit as a whole.
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