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Marnus Labuschagne will have more than just Australia’s hopes of winning the third and final Test against South Africa resting on his shoulders when he walks to the crease in the second innings.
He could very well be batting to save his Test career.
After falling for a five-ball duck in the first innings, the pressure will be firmly on the Australian No.3 to deliver, with the Aussies needing 288 runs for victory on the final day.
There has been no shortage of criticism directed at Labuschagne and the Australian selectors, with his continued selection raising eyebrows following scores of 37, 37, 14 and 39 heading into the deciding Test.
Former Australian opener David Warner was among those to deliver a brutal assessment of the struggling batter, suggesting his dramatic decline has left him searching for answers.
“His form slump has gone from here to there. It’s not like it’s been here, dropped a little, and he’s come back again and scored runs. This is a proper slump,” Warner said.
“He got dropped (by opposition fielders) a lot.
“Now the chances have stuck.
“And unfortunately, Marnus has been trying to correct his technique, he’s gone back and looked at a lot of footage, and I think he’s just baffled himself.”
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And the numbers paint a concerning picture for the Australian No.3, who has struggled to rediscover the form that once made him one of the most feared batters in world cricket.
Across the first 42 Tests of his career, Labuschagne averaged an impressive 54.59, registering 16 half-centuries and 11 centuries.
But his last 26 Tests have told a completely different story.
His average has plummeted to just 24.77 during that period, with nine half-centuries and not a single hundred to his name.
Following his first-innings duck against South Africa, Labuschagne also made unwanted history, extending his century drought to the longest by an Australian top-four batter in Test history.
And while a match-winning performance in the second innings could go a long way towards silencing his critics, some former Australian stars believe the writing is already on the wall.
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Former Test batter Greg Blewett believes Labuschagne’s fate may already be sealed, regardless of what he produces in the second innings.
“Marnus is gone. I don’t care really whether he makes runs in the second innings or not. I think that it’s just gone on for too long,” Blewett said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.
“So I think regardless of a good contribution in the second innings, I don’t think we’ll see Marnus in the first Test match in Perth, which means we need a new number three.”
And with Australia potentially facing a major selection headache ahead of the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, Blewett believes two players have emerged as possible replacements at No.3.
“That will probably come down to, I think, Inglis or Cameron Green,” Blewett said.
“I think they’ll go with Inglis at number three because he is the sort of guy… like he’s a really busy player.”
Blewett also questioned the Australian selectors’ decision to include Labuschagne on the tour of South Africa in the first place, suggesting the warning signs had been there for some time.
“I wouldn’t have had Marnus anywhere near this tour,” Blewett said.
“I just saw, what I saw in the top end, those two Test matches, I just saw a player that was gone.
“I think he’d run out of ideas.”
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Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden was equally concerned by Labuschagne’s dramatic decline, suggesting the technical issues that have plagued his batting have continued to cost him dearly.
“What we’ve seen with Marnus is a career that’s been marred just in the last couple of years by the same or similar type dismissals,” Hayden said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.
“I mean, honestly, you could probably put a package of 20 of these last 48 innings without a Test match hundred, maybe even more, maybe a higher percentage, 80% potentially, and it would be the same or similar dismissal.”
“Unfortunately for Marnus, what has made him a great player, he’s somehow shifted in a direction that has made him less of a player.”
But while much of the criticism has been directed at Labuschagne himself, Hayden believes the Australian selectors have also played a role in his struggles by continuing to expose him to the pressures of international cricket.
“I feel like the selectors have just, it’s not their fault, but I just feel like they’ve just hung him out to dry a bit as well,” Hayden said.
“I feel like there’s nothing wrong with getting dropped for an extended period of time.”
“He can go back without the spotlight and the pressure that inevitably Test match cricket presents you.”
And the concerns don’t stop there.
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For James Brayshaw, Labuschagne’s extraordinary run without a Test century has reached a point where his continued selection is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.
“48 innings now without a hundred. So if we bring that back to Sheffield Shield cricket, that’s two and a half seasons,” Brayshaw said on the All Over Bar The Cricket podcast.
“Imagine being a number three pick to play for Queensland or, in my case, South Australia, and going two and a half years without making a first-class hundred.”
“I mean, you wouldn’t last. You wouldn’t last to the end of the first season.”
With Australia preparing to welcome New Zealand for a Test series this summer, Brayshaw believes Labuschagne needs an extended period away from the national side to rediscover his best form.
“I just can’t see how he plays that first Test. He’s got to go back to Queensland and he’s got to get his game back in order,” Brayshaw said.
Former Australian Test opener Marcus Harris also weighed in on Labuschagne’s struggles, suggesting the 31-year-old has become caught up in trying to rediscover the form that once saw him average more than 60 in Test cricket.
“I think what you see with him is he’s trying to, he’s constantly trying to battle with himself to get back to that stage of when he averaged 60 in Test cricket,” Harris said on SEN.
“I watched him about last game, and he hit the ball really well.
“But that’s the beauty of cricket, and why it’s such a good and such a bad game, is you can make one error as a batsman and you’re out.”
But while much of the criticism has been directed at Labuschagne, there have also been some voices of support for the struggling batter.
Former Australian Test batter Simon Katich sympathised with the No.3, having experienced similar struggles during his own career, while also questioning the selectors’ decision to keep him in the firing line.
“That’s the pressure the Australian selectors have put him under for an extended period of time,” Katich said on SEN.
“They deserve to be in the same situation as him here. They put him in this position by not making the decision to give him a breather. I feel for him. I’ve been through it and it is not pleasant.”
Cricket commentator and journalist Adam Collins also came to Labuschagne’s defence, describing the situation as ‘desperately sad’ and suggesting the selectors missed an opportunity to give him an extended break from international cricket.
“I feel sadness for him that they didn’t detect that they had to get him out of the firing line. They had the opportunity to say ‘you’re not coming to South Africa but we’d love to have you fit and firing for England (in 2027)‘. And they could have given him a whole summer away from all of this circus.
“International cricket is so highly scrutinised, whereas domestic cricket never will be. They missed their perfect opportunity. It didn’t need to be this way.”
It all sets the stage for what could be one of the most important innings of Labuschagne’s Test career.
Australia need 288 runs to secure victory over South Africa and claim the series, but for the struggling No.3, there could be even more riding on the result.
A big score could provide a timely reminder of the player who once dominated Test cricket, while another failure would only intensify the questions surrounding his future.
And as SEN’s Tom Morris put it, Labuschagne is already a “dead man walking”.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au
