‘He astounds us’: Labuschagne confounds critics on road to the top

Trevor Hohns already knew how tough Marnus Labuschagne was. Then he watched him take on James Pattinson on a spicy track in Brisbane.

Facing the Victorian firebrand is a daunting task at the best of times, let alone when he is auditioning for an international comeback. It turned out Pattinson was not the only player with a point to prove.

“James Pattinson was having a fitness test at the National Cricket Centre, and he was bowling flat out on a pitch I would say was a bit dodgy,” Hohns, the former selection chair, recalled to The Age and the Herald on Thursday.

“Yet Marnus got in there, didn’t get out. In fact, everyone else was getting out. He was letting balls go and wanted more, whereas others were happy to get out of there. That’s something that sticks in my mind.”

Marnus Labuschagne is the world’s No.1 Test batter, displacing England captain Joe Root.Credit:AP

If selectors ever want evidence that there is more to picking teams than facts and figures, they should point critics to Labuschagne’s rise from maligned Sheffield Shield player to the world’s No.1 Test batter. The quirky Queenslander is exhibit 1A for the importance of trusting the eye over the numbers, why selection is a craft and not a science.

In the aftermath of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, when Labuschagne bolted from the blue into the baggy green, there were no shortage of doubters within the game questioning his selection. Hohns, Greg Chappell and Justin Langer may well have been the only believers in the country.

One state player on the fringe has openly – though not publicly – said in quite crude terms that Labuschagne was not a Test cricketer.

It’s doubtful Shane Warne, former Test opener Ed Cowan and World Cup winner turned pundit and Cricket Australia director Mel Jones would agree on much – but all three could not see what selectors saw. They were not on their own. Though proven wrong, they had grounds to be mistaken.

With a first-class average in the low 30s when he became baggy green No.455, few could argue that Labuschagne was picked on performance.

Such has been his hot run in the Test arena, it is often forgotten Labuschagne, the player of the domestic one-day tournament in 2016, caught the eye of selectors through his deeds against the white ball.

But it’s Labuschagne’s stomach for the contest and his willingness to go where few dare to tread that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries.

Tough, hard-nosed, work ethic. Speak to anyone involved in Australian cricket about Labuschagne and these are invariably the words commonly used to describe the fastidious trainer who puts his hand up for the unwanted jobs.

Labuschagne makes the hard runs when they are needed most. He sealed an unlikely Ashes berth in 2019 with 41 in a total of 105.

He is an agenda-setter. All six of his Test centuries have come in the first innings. Since sensationally replacing Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019, he has averaged 102 in the first dig, when pitches tend to be liveliest.

Labuschagne’s eccentric mannerisms and dog-at-the-door enthusiasm on the field can mask the heavy-duty cricketer deep inside. Nerves were frayed in the Australian dressing room when Jofra Archer floored Smith at Lord’s. Smith’s removal from the game did not help the mood.

“Everyone was edgy,” Hohns said. Even more so after Labuschagne himself was floored, second ball by Archer. He got to his feet immediately, stared down Archer, and batted for another two and a quarter hours to help Australia save the game. Hohns rates it among Labuschagne’s best knocks.

Emboldened by a ringing endorsement from batting whisperer Neil D’Costa, who mentored Michael Clarke and the late Phil Hughes before guiding Labuschagne, Langer was instrumental in the contentious call to bat Labuschagne at No.3 against India in the 2019 Sydney Test. He has since made the position his own.

“People who have got that energy and love for the game, who have no doubt got some natural talent, you like to take a punt on them,” Langer said. “He astounds us every time.”

Labuschagne last week became the fifth fastest batter to reach 2000 Test runs. Langer is confident the best is yet to come.

“I’ve got absolutely no reason to believe he won’t get better and better,” Langer said. “He’s certainly as hungry as ever. He’s working as hard as ever. Let’s hope he continues on this incredible rise.”

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