Marnus Labuschagne

Every bit as quirky and idiosyncratic as his close mate and role model Steve Smith and yet just as placid at the crease, Marnus Labuschagne has quickly established himself as a mainstay in Australia’s middle order. For teams playing against Australia, it’s a tireless task - you get Smith out, well here’s another one of him, only it’s Marnus Labuschange. Labuschagne was born in Klerksdorp, a relatively obscure city in South Africa. He moved to Australia with his father in 2004, when he was 10, after his Dad had secured a job in the mining business. He grew up speaking Afrikaans, which was his mother tongue, and learned English after he started attending school in Brisbane.

He pursued cricket in school and attended the Australian Institute of sport, and went on to be selected in the Queensland U-15 side, and subsequently the U-17 and U-19 sides, on account of his consistent performances with the bat in junior cricket.

Labuschagne made his first-class debut at the historic Adelaide Oval in the 2014-15 Shieffield Shield as a 20-year-old and became an immediate benefactor for his team, scoring 83 in his first innings. His debut innings was one beyond his age given that he watched Chadd Sayers take a hat-trick from the non-striker's end, and rebuilt the innings with a 99-run fourth wicket stand with Nick Stevens, setting the base for the middle-order to score 443 runs. Although Queensland went on to lose the game and Labuschagne made a duck in the second innings, his contribution under pressure in the first innings was noted by the selectors, and he has remained a member of the side for the last 4 seasons.

He continued to grow as a batsman, stroking his way to two centuries in the Sheffield Shield in the 2015-16 season. He did have an off-season, and his average does not reflect his potential as a player, but with an upwards performance graph, a number of accolades, and an air-tight technique of a classical opener, he is looking all set to scale new heights in the upcoming season and seal his spot for the Queensland Bulls.

He has strong credentials in the limited overs format as well, having scored 271 runs at an average of 45 in the 2016-17 Matador BBQs One-Day Cup, and was declared Player of the Tournament for his batting performances. He was lauded by experts for scoring at a commendable strike-rate (90.63 in the Matador cup) despite limiting himself to orthodox shots.

His performance in the Matador Cup earned him a contract with Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League in November 2016. He has struggled to find a place in the regular XI, scoring just 21 in his three games, and he will be looking to cement his spot in the XI during the course of 2017-18 edition of the tournament.

He had the honour of rubbing shoulders with the Australian Cricket Team when he came in as a substitute fielder in the Gabba Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014 against India. He made a useful contribution as he took a close-in catch off the bowling of Nathan Lyon to dismiss Indian tail-ender Varun Aaron. The catch was trending on social media at the time and a video of him showed up on practicing close-in catching - wait for it - with a piece of corn!

In September 2017, he made headlines for the wrong reasons, when he achieved the unenviable distinction of becoming the first player to be penalized by the umpires under the fake fielding rule, less than 24 hours after its implementation, costing his team five penalty runs.

As it so happened, in the aftermath of suspension of the trio involved in the Newlands ball-tampering saga, Marnus Labuschagne was called up into a new-look Australian Test side to tour the UAE and play Pakistan in a 2-Test series. The all-rounder failed to make much of a mark with the bat, which was not all that surprising, given that he was making his Test debut in alien conditions and was clearly struggling to adapt with the bat. However, his leg-spin was a surprising revelation, as he went on to snaffle several important wickets with his enticingly consistent lengths. It is this skill that guaranteed him a spot in the Test side, as the youngster attempted to settle into a groove with his batting skills in the lower middle-order of the Australian Test team.

Then India toured down under and Labuschagne got a game at Sydney. He did give a good account of himself in the first innings with a well crafted 38. But the game had rains taking the honours and he didn't get to bat in the second innings. But his solid show with the bat ensured he was in the side for the home series against Sri Lanka.

Labuschagne got to his maiden fifty against the touring Lankans in the first Test at Brisbane. His returns in the next Test at Canberra were nothing to write home about. But with the 2019 Ashes happening in England, Labuschagne decided to give it a try at the county circuit for the 2019 season. His returns were exemplary as he scored runs everywhere playing in various conditions. In 18 innings for Glamorgan, Labuschagne scored 5 fifties and 5 tons to lead the run-getters tally with 1114 runs. That granted him a spot in his Australia’s squad and Labuschagne got an opportunity in the most unusual of circumstances.

He became the first ever concussion substitute on Day 5 of the second Test as he replaced Steve Smith who’d been struck on the head the previous day. ‘Like for like’ in nearly every sense of the word, Labuschagne set out to prove that he could bat like Smith as well. He scored 59 and held on to his spot in the next game with Smith still being absent and it was here that he really seemed to own the stage as he top-scored for Australia with 72 in the first innings and 80 in the second - out-scoring England’s 1st innings tally of 67 on both occasions.

Returning home for a series against Pakistan and New Zealand, Labuschagne really settled into his groove. His maiden Test ton came in the form of a 185 against Pakistan at the Gabba and he backed that up with centuries in the next two Tests as well. After making twin-fifties in the 2nd Test against New Zealand, Labuschagne struck a magnificent double-hundred at the SCG. His meteoric rise in world cricket was encapsulated in the ICC Test Batting Rankings that year in which he ascended a whopping 106 places before making it to rank 4.

Labuschagne made his ODI debut the following year in 2020 and scored his maiden ODI ton against South Africa in Potchefstroom. He wasn’t quite able to translate his red-ball consistency to the white-ball formats and struggled to be a sure-starter in Australia’s limited-overs setup.

Originally not a part of Australia’s squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Labuschagne had a remarkable turnaround. It was the concussion sub rule that once again worked in Labuschagne’s favour. Originally not part of the XI, Labuschagne ended up replacing a concussed Cameron Green in the first ODI against South Africa in September 2023. With Australia in trouble while chasing a small total, Labuschagne scored an unbeaten 80 to steer his team to victory. He backed that up with a 124 in the next game and made a strong case for his inclusion into Australia’s 15-member squad. He was subsequently part of the team that toured India for an ODI series just before the World Cup and the 138-runs he scored in the 3-match series sealed his spot for the World Cup.

Labuschagne had a fairly quiet World Cup, but performed when it mattered the most in the all important final. He scored an unbeaten fifty in the final as Australia silenced the crowds to defeat India in their own backyard.

Barring that World Cup final though, Labuschagne has had a tepid last couple of years where he has suffered a significant dip in form. He hasn’t scored a Test century since December, 2022 and his ODI performances have been a mixed bag as well.

Written by Rishi Roy, Kumar Abhisekh Das & Anurag Hegde