Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne both came into the two-Test series against Bangladesh under pressure — but only the rejuvenated allrounder has enhanced his status in the Australian team.
Green, thanks to a sublime knock of 104 in Darwin and a half-century in tough conditions in Mackay, will be on the plane to South Africa for October’s three-Test series after two compelling knocks at No.5. Yet No.3 Labuschagne’s struggle to find form and runs endures.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ricky Ponting declares it’s time to replace Labuschagne
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After his first innings knock of four in the second Test against Bangladesh in Mackay, the 32-year-old Labuschagne now has gone 23 Tests and 43 innings at an average of 24.69 without a century, in a format where he had scored 11 tons in his first 42 Tests.
Of concern is the manner of his dismissals against Bangladesh. An indecisive nudge to slip for one in the first Test in Darwin was followed by missing a straight delivery after scoring 31 in the second innings.
In Mackay, in the first innings of the second Test, Labuschagne missed a Shoriful Islam delivery on leg stump and the ball deflected off his thigh pad and onto the wickets after making just four.
Labuschagne was back in the nets on Sunday morning and in a “philosophical mood talking about the bigger picture”, Channel 7’s Bharat Sundaresan said, adding that the batsman had immediately made an unusual equipment change — cutting off the part of his thigh pad that led to his dismissal.
“I’ve never heard that. He might’ve been out like that once in his entire life and now he’s changing his equipment on the back of it,” Ricky Ponting said in response.
“That to me just says that you’re searching for an answer. We know how hard he’s trying, everyone can see how hard he’s trying, and in fact I’d like to see him go the other way and relax into his game a little bit.”
Coach Andrew McDonald said after the Darwin Test that Labuschagne needed “big runs”.
Captain Pat Cummins and No.3 batter Steve Smith have come to Labuschagne’s defence in the past two days, Smith suggesting there is too much going on in Labuschagne’s mind at the crease.
“I actually think he is batting really well at the moment,” Smith said before play on day one of the Mackay Test.
“I have watched him bat in the nets the last few days and his bat path is coming down in a really good place.
“Batting is all about decision-making under pressure and when he is at his best he is not thinking technically and is just in a contest with the bowler and playing what is coming at him.
“We have seen him do it for Australia and he has been the best batter in the world at stages.”
Batters in the Sheffield Shield have hardly made a compelling case to replace him, but Labuschagne’s issue has been that he is not getting in the contest in Test cricket enough.
Cummins said after bowling to Labuschagne in the nets and in match simulation situations that he was “as sharp he has been for a long time”.
“It looks he is putting pressure back on the bowler and making it really difficult to get him out,” Cummins said.
Unfortunately, that has not translated into Tests and, after his short stay in Mackay, former Test captain Ponting said the selectors now had to move on from Labuschagne.
“I admire what they’re trying to do with Marnus. I admire that they tried to get him and get him back to his best but it’s been way too long now,” he said on Channel 7.
“And I’m on record as saying I would have made that change at the start of this series because I think there was enough evidence for me to suggest that he was a long way from rediscovering his best.
“And he’ll look back at today, he was unlucky, there’s no doubt about that. But that tends to happen to you as well when you’re struggling and you’re trying to find some form and some rhythm.”
Ponting highlighted Labuschagne’s inability to hurt bowlers off the back foot as the veteran’s biggest issue.
“The worry that I had with him, I think there’s some technical deficiency there but he’s making the margin for error for the bowlers too great,” he continued.
“With the length, he can’t score off the back foot. If you can’t score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game.
“That’s the great difference between when he was at his best and we highlighted some graphics earlier, three or four years ago where he’s averaging 65-68 for a Test year. That was when he was scoring off front foot and back foot.
“I think the bowlers now know that they can run in a bowl anywhere from almost 10 metres to about four metres on off stump and out as wide as they want and he can’t hurt them.”
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Ponting again pushed the cases of untried youngsters Campbell Kellaway and Ollie Peake, as well as saying Nathan McSweeney deserved another crack.
Green, who had averaged 26.28 in the latest World Test Championship cycle before his ton in Darwin, has been Australia’s best batter in the last two innings.
Mitchell Starc, speaking after taking 6-12 on day one of the Test in Mackay, said Green’s 51 not out on the same day continued a positive trend..
“I thought he played fantastic last week for his hundred, his first in Australia, and he has backed it up again today in definitely harder conditions,” Starc said
“Whatever he is doing is paying off for him.”