Marnus Labuschagne should be worrying more about reversing his recent batting downturn than his bizarre plan to become a surprise weapon as a bouncer bowler.
Labuschagne is at an interesting point in his career heading into the five-Test series against India.
In the perhaps imminent post-Steve Smith era, Labuschagne had been considered the heir apparent to the 35-year-old vice-captain’s status as the backbone of the batting unit.
The player who can be relied upon not only for regular runs but an insatiable accumulator who turns starts into centuries and converts triple-figure scores into daddy hundreds which grind opposing bowling attacks into the dust.
But after a lean run over the past two years, Labuschagne’s meteoric rise in the early stages of his career has faded away as rapidly as his average, which has gone from a peak of 63.43 four years ago to now being 49.56, slipping below 50 for the first time since his Test career took off in 2019 after a slow start.
Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is bowled by Ravindra Jadeja in India last year. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
That decline is due to his modest returns of 1073 runs at 32.51 with only one century in 20 Tests since feasting on the West Indies in the home series of two summers ago.
Labuschagne at 30 should be in the prime of his career and in a position to not only be inheriting Smith’s batting kingpin mantle when he retires in the next year or two (or three) but also the captaincy from Pat Cummins.
Despite being elevated to Queensland captain he has probably hindered his chances of ever becoming a full-time leader of the Test team with his propensity to set strange fields and overuse himself as anything more than a change bowler with his medium pacers.
Labuschagne was considered a more than handy spinner when he came from the clouds to get his start in Test cricket in 2018 and he can still rip a leg break when called upon.
But in county cricket and at first-class level he seems infatuated on trying to become a medium pacer who can unsettle batters with a surprise short ball, a skill that Steve and Mark Waugh had in the early years of their career before they concentrated on their main task of scoring bulk runs.
He took 2-5 to clean up the tail against Western Australia in his first Sheffield Shield outing before returns of 0-36 and 1-50 against Tasmana … while only scoring 10 and 22 with the bat.
“There’s nothing more enjoyable than bowling bouncers, I love it,” said Labuschagne during the week in Perth as he talked up his bowling prowess.
“There was a bit of worry (from CA staff) when I bowled 28 overs of pace in a Shield game and my workloads were zero before then.
“Some would say that’s a big spike. But my body’s pretty durable, touch wood.”
What the Australian camp should much prefer seeing is their first drop batter doing the job he’s in the side for, rather than concerning himself with trying to reinvent his role as a seam-bowling all-rounder.
Particularly given they are going into the first Test with an uncapped and unproven opener in Nathan McSweeney alongside a veteran who has regressed over the past 12 months in Usman Khawaja.
Scarily enough, Pat Cummins seemed to pay more than lip service to Labuschagne’s bowling desires on Thursday: “I’m sure he’ll get the ball at some stage. And he’s been bowling quite a few bouncers as well. So that’s maybe something we’ll turn to at some point.”
With all-rounder Mitchell Marsh cleared to bowl – “a few spells each innings or something like that,” added Cummins – if it gets to the stage where they are relying on their eager Lab to perform a few tricks with the ball, the Aussies will be in the doghouse.
Labuschagne’s eccentric nature was considered quirky when he burst onto the international scene as a Smith clone.
When you’re making runs it doesn’t really matter if you are a total cricket nuffie obsessed with the game, even if it gets on the nerves of your teammates.
But few things irritate fans more than unnecessary behaviour from a player if they are not getting results.
Labuschagne seems to only have one modus operandi of living and breathing cricket. Such an obsessive personality is part of what made him great in the first place but it can be a double-edged sword for athletes if they don’t have the pressure valve of taking a break when needed.
Nathan McSweeney. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
It’s an unusual scenario for the Australians heading into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy showdown, especially the batters.
The Test team’s record has been excellent in the past few years but the bowling has been the strength in more recent outings.
McSweeney is on debut, Smith is hoping a move back to No.4 gets runs flowing from his blade again while Khawaja, Labuschagne and Travis Head have not been terrible but nowhere near their best.
Marsh has been Australia’s most dependable run-scorer and the inconsistent nature of his career suggests that he could be headed for a downswing at some stage.
In the lead-up to the India series, all the pressure has been placed on the tourists following their surprise 3-0 home series loss to New Zealand and the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for the first fixture and Mohammed Shami for the series.
But the Aussies have plenty on the line as well – the fixturing is set up perfectly for them with a bouncy Perth wicket, a day-nighter in Adelaide and another fast-bowling friendly surface at the Gabba in the opening three matches before finishing at pitches in Melbourne and Sydney which will suit India better.
After losing four straight series to India, including the last time around when the visiting squad was decimated even more so than this time around, Australia need to get the proverbial animal which shouldn’t be mentioned in contests between these two teams off their back.
The Aussies need Labuschagne in form and focused on racking up big scores, not any kind of fast bowling malarkey.
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