Clinical Australia give absent captain plenty to cheer in isolation
Marnus Labuschagne is on the cusp of a maiden Ashes century that will reaffirm his status as Australia’s most bankable batter, as England paid for their snail-like play before what looms as a hellish Friday for the visitors.
Sidelined skipper Pat Cummins would have enjoyed what he saw from isolation as his charges did a Paul Keating on Joe Root’s men, doing them slowly on a grinding first day at Adelaide Oval.
Cummins’ shock omission and the injury-enforced absence of Josh Hazlewood gave England hope for better days in Adelaide but if fortune favours the brave, then the visitors got what they deserved for their lack of adventure.
They inflicted more damage to themselves when wicketkeeper Jos Buttler fluffed the most straightforward of chances from Labuschagne on 95, having already grassed him on 21.
By stumps, Australia, powered early by a gutsy 95 from David Warner, which vindicated the call for him to play under duress, had reached 2-221 with the prospect of many more runs to come on the second day against an England attack that will be dreading hours in the field with temperatures forecast to soar into the high 30s.
Smith has long been the country’s saviour with the bat but Labuschagne has become the man opposition attacks must tame to knock over Australia.
Labuschagne set himself for the long haul, batting for almost the entire day after Marcus Harris’s grip on his Test berth loosened further with another failure.
Only twice has Labuschagne seen more than the 275 balls he faced in this innings. On both occasions, he compiled massive tons.
Buttler’s misses were further dents to the flagging morale of a side that is staring at a long few weeks to come if they cannot lift.
His first chance, at full extension, was forgivable, but there can be no excuse for the second miss, a waist-high offering that bounced out of his gloves and left his teammates in disbelief.
Australia’s slow scoring played in their favour, allowing them to overcome a probing opening spell from James Anderson and Stuart Broad, but England’s dawdling had the opposite effect, costing themselves an over with a new pink ball under lights when batting is theoretically at its most difficult.
A slow over-rate was always going to be the side effect of picking a five-pronged pace attack, which deployed the curious strategy of attacking Australia with short ball under lights to leg-side heavy fields.
“When you get away from top of off it’s a good thing as a batter,” Labuschagne told Fox Cricket during his knock.
Broad maintained his stranglehold over a left-handed Australia opener, but it was not Warner.
Harris’s Test career remains on shaky ground after another Ashes failure left him as statistically one of the worst-performed openers in the history of the game.
England’s bowlers have traditionally struggled in Australian conditions, but they know they have a weakness at the top of Australia’s order which they can exploit.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschange leave the field after day one with Australia well on top.Credit:Getty
Since the start of the 2019 series, Australia’s opening partnership has amassed just 115 runs from 13 innings, with a highest stand of just 18.
The Australians retained the urn two years ago despite the rotten numbers, but there will come a point when batting bankers Labuschagne and Smith go bust and are unable to rescue the side.
The opening combination has been a major issue for selectors since Chris Rogers’ retirement after the 2015 Ashes. Ten other openers to Warner have been tried but none have cemented themselves as long-term prospects at the top of the order.
Having not started a series since his debut three years ago, it would not be fair to say Harris has been given an extended run but, in his 12th game, selectors have a decent sample size to assess his Test credentials.
His average of 22.15 places him 225th out of 233 among batters to have opened at least 20 times in Tests, well below the likes of Joe Burns, Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft.
Harris, whose Shield century this season was accompanied by three single-figure scores, worked extensively with coach Justin Langer in the nets leading into the game to correct a technique which had left him vulnerable to being caught behind the wicket.
There were only minimal returns from the hard work, as Harris did not nick off. Instead, he met his demise on three to an ugly short ball from Broad which should have been dispatched to the deep square boundary – maybe even beyond – but was meekly gloved to Buttler, who completed a fine diving catch to the leg side.
England will be wishing Buttler had saved his best work to Australia’s best batter.
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