Melbourne [Australia], October 21 : Australia's premier Test batter Steve Smith expressed pride in his batting partner Marnus Labuschagne's exploits in domestic cricket, terming his numbers for Queensland as a "big statement" and lauding him for "backing his words" with the right performances.
After a lengthy century drought in Tests since 2023, Labuschagne was on the bench during the tour to the West Indies this year in June-July.
Labuschagne, who was initially dropped from the ODI series against India, was added back to the squad after an injury to all-rounder Cameron Green, despite not delivering an ODI fifty in his last 10 innings.
This came after some tremendous performances in domestic cricket and a shift in his strike rate, managing four centuries across his last six innings, two each in the Sheffield Shield and the One-Day Cup. His last outing was knocks of 159 and 18 for Queensland against South Australia. He has crossed the 150-run mark twice and has been averaging 95.66.
Smith revealed that before the season start, Labuschagne had told him that he would be back in the Test side by the start of the home Ashes, which begins on November 21, and expressed pride in his performances.
"I sent him a message a couple of days ago saying how proud I was of him," Smith said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "He has just gone back and he has got his fourth hundred in five hits. It is a pretty big statement. At the start of the summer, he said, 'I will be in that Test team come the first [Ashes] Test'. He's backed up his words, probably. He is obviously not selected yet, but he has done a lot of things right."
Before the first ODI against India at Perth on Sunday, Labuschagne had delved deep into his form struggles, which were primarily due to him getting "too deep" into his technique and "trying to be too perfect".
Smith said that being dropped is something nearly everyone has experienced, and his advice to Labuschagne during these difficult times was to "just go and play the game, watch the ball and react".
"We have all been there at some point in our careers, and it is difficult to hear it," Smith said. "But I think he knew he probably was not batting as well as he had been over probably four years ago, when he was scoring a mountain of runs. I think my advice to him was 'stop thinking so technically, just go and play the game; watch the ball and react'. I think he has been doing that really beautifully, and he has played so nicely," he added.
With a young Sam Konstas blowing hot and cold in domestic and A-team cricket, with 319 runs in his last 10 innings at an average of 35.44 with a century and fifty each, Labuschagne could find himself opening with an ageing Usman Khawaja yet again, with the latter also being on a downward curve performance-wise as of late. Australia are yet to announce their squad for Ashes series.
A large part of the final decision depends on how confident selectors are that all-rounder Cameron Green will deliver a solid number of overs after back surgery and whether all-rounder Beau Webster's bowling will be needed.
Smith called Labuschagne a "versatile player" and someone who does not need to change anything in his game.
"He can open, as we saw in the Test championship final," Smith said.
"He can bat three. He's versatile. We will see where it all stands when the team gets picked. I mean, it is not too different to batting three, to be honest. He could be on the first ball. So, it is essentially the same thing. I do not think he needs to change anything if that's the case. Just play the game, play how he has been, and see the ball hit it, and trust his instincts," he concluded.
Labuschagne is without a century in his past 49 international matches, having scored just 12 fifties in 57 innings at an average of less than 30. His form has been even worse in red-ball cricket, with his last Test century coming against England back in July 2023. Since then, he has been able to muster just 668 runs in 16 matches and 30 innings at an average of 24.74, with seven fifties and a best score of 90.
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