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Follow UsThere are batters who have played over 70-80 Tests with a career average of around 35. They are the ones who will produce a couple of good knocks and then go quiet for a few Tests. That’s how they spend their entire career, without people asking too many questions about their form or ability. The reality is people don’t expect too much from them.
And then there are batters from whom you expect runs in almost every match. These are the type of players who end their career with an average of well above 50. If there’s a period in their career where they are scoring at 35, it’s considered to be poor. A regular phase for some of the batters is considered to be a slump for some, and Marnus Labuschagne is one of them.
The No. 3 batter for Australia was in beast mode from 2019 to 2022, amassing 2990 runs across 30 Tests at an average of 62.29 and a balls/dismissal of 111.4. He slammed ten hundreds and 13 fifties in this period. Labuschagne outscored Steven Smith and was statistically the best Test batter in that period.
Things, however, haven’t been the same since 2023. Labuschagne has scored 944 runs in his last 16 Tests at a mediocre average of 34.96, with just one century and six fifties to his name. His balls/dismissal in this period has been 78.3. The right-hander started 2023 with an average of 59.06, which has now dropped to 50.82 in the last 14 months.
It’s not like Labuschagne is completely out of form. He has always been known for scoring big after getting set but that’s exactly what he hasn’t been doing lately. In 31 innings since 2023, the batter has been dismissed for a single-digit score seven times. In fact, 18 times he has faced 50 or more deliveries but only has seven 50-plus scores in this time frame.
In this period, Labuschagne's balls/dismissal is almost at par or better than the likes of Kusal Mendis (78.5), Harry Brook (58.9), Mitchell Marsh (75.8), Joe Root (78.7), and a few others, but all of these batters are averaging above 50. While some of them have been able to convert starts into big scores, the others have scored at a far better strike rate.
That has been the problem with Labuschagne, who despite taking all the time in the world to get set, hasn’t been able to get big runs. This is the same problem Cheteshwar Pujara had before being dropped from the Indian Test set-up. Faced enough deliveries without scoring much.
Amongst batters who have scored at least 500 runs since 2023, Labuschagne has the second-worst strike rate (44.7). The only batter who has scored at a slower rate is his teammate Usman Khawaja but the opener has an average of 49.86, with seven half-centuries and three tons. That’s not it, if we put the same filter, Labuschagne also has the fifth-worst batting average in Test cricket.
20 of his last 31 innings have come in England and India, where batting isn’t too easy. Labuschagne only managed three 50-plus scores in those 10 games. Howbeit, his average at home also reads just 33.89, as opposed to 70.24 from 2019 to 2022.
So, is there a pattern to his dismissals in the last 14 months?
Speaking to ESPN's Around The Wicket show, former Australia captain Michael Clarke said: “The only thing I can see technically is that he just looks to be squaring up a little bit with his right shoulder. So mainly the balls that are that back-of-a-length, instead of staying really side on like he does and back-foot defends the ball to cover or to point, or even drops it to his feet, he's just squaring up a little bit. And that's why he's playing a little in front of himself, edging it to a second, third (slip), gully area."
Labuschagne has struggled against deliveries moving away from that off-stump channel, something most of the batters struggle with. Since 2023, he has an average of just 14.3 and has gotten out seven times on deliveries swinging away. He has developed a bad habit of poking at deliveries outside off and ends up getting caught behind or at the slip cordon.
Now, this is an area that New Zealand seamers could exploit in the two-match Test series, starting in Wellington on Thursday (February 29). Labuschagne is yet to play a Test in New Zealand and is coming here after having his worst series with the bat - 19 runs in four innings @ 6.33 against West Indies at home. Both times in the second Test against West Indies at the Gabba, Labuschagne was guilty of edging an away-swinger to the slip cordon.
Having managed scores of 10, 1*, 3, and 5 in the series against West Indies, Labuschagne played a List A and first-class game for Queensland, scoring 75, 38, and 45 runs respectively. Even in the Sheffield Shield game against South Australia, Labuschagne got out after getting starts in both innings.
“Obviously, it wasn't the ideal summer for me personally. I thought I played well against Pakistan (207 runs @ 41.4). I didn't get that big score but we played in some trickier conditions,” Labuschagne told ESPNcricinfo.
“I'd have liked some more runs against West Indies. But sometimes it just doesn't happen and I think for me I'm always going to go away and go, okay, how can I improve? What things do I need to get better at and how am I going to do that? What does that look like for me? I think I've obviously done that. Hence why I played the Shield game.”
Labuschagne’s technique will surely be tested against Tim Southee, Matt Henry, and William O'Rourke on a swing-friendly Basin Reserve surface but the right-hander isn’t going to think too much about it. "It's fine to be thinking about that the day before but when you're in the game, you need to be in the contest.
"You need to be thinking about the other end. I think that's always a good way to put it. You want to be thinking what the bowler is doing. How the bowler is going to bowl here, where's he going to miss? How am I going to counter that? I think when I'm in that sort of headspace, that's when I'm playing at my best."
The last time Labuschagne played red-ball cricket against New Zealand, the 29-year-old hit 549 runs across six innings at an average of 91.5, decorated with three fifties and two hundreds. Even though these runs came at home, Labuschagne would want to draw inspiration from his performance in the past and return back to his best.
After all, that average of 34.96 doesn’t do justice to Marnus Labuschagne’s ability.
