Marnus Labuschagne says lack of bounce at Edgbaston led to his dismissal against Stuart Broad

The former world number one batsman and Australia’s batting backbone Marnus Labuschagne says that lack of bounce at the pitch in Edgbaston for the first test of the ashes series against England, was the reason behind his poor performance in the two innings, and not the brilliance of home team’s legendary bowler Stuart Broad. 

The right-arm fast bowler Stuart Broad, who is one of the very few fast bowlers in world history to take 500 wickets in test cricket, had predicted dismissing Marnus Labuschagne on delivery is that Song away from the batsmen outside the off stump months ago. 

It was something that Stuart Broad was able to execute perfectly in the first test of the ashes series which Australia won by a close margin of two wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five match series. 

Labuschagne has been going through a lean patch with the bat in test cricket as he has not scored the way he usually does, and the failures in the first test of the Ashes series has only added the pressure on the visiting side.  

The right-hand batsman was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo,

“When you get out first ball you just throw it in the bag. Potentially I thought that they were going to come straight and then he got a nice ball that swung in the right area,”

he said. 

“With a lack of bounce at Edgbaston, it sucks you in to thinking you can hit the ball a bit more and I just made a few poor decisions [against balls] that were really wide. They’d be eighth or ninth stump, some of those deliveries.

“They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I’ve usually played, that’s why I was pretty frustrated with myself to get out that way and asked myself the question, ‘why did I play at those deliveries?’.

The former world number one batsman said that he holds himself much higher as far as standards are concerned than the way he was dismissed twice in Edgbaston in the first test.

“I’ve come up with my own summation of what that is. Now it’s if there’s anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s a rarity that I’d play at those balls so it’s not something I’m going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals,”

said Marnus Labuschagne. 

Talking further about the two deliveries that led to his dismissal from Stuart Broad, the right-handed Marnus Labuschagne said,

“He’s 2 and 0 now so he’s done his homework. That first [and only] ball I got in the first innings was a very nice ball. I haven’t faced Stuart Broad where he’s really been able to swing it away. He usually angles in, and that one definitely swung.

“First ball, most of the time you just play and miss at that then you go ‘okay’, you can make the adjustments out there. I said this about [R] Ashwin, guys who take the time to do the homework, understand the game, and work out how they’re going to get certain guys out, I’ve got so much respect for them so if they’re putting the time and effort in and it pays off, that’s a credit to them.”

He also added that working constantly on his batting has been one of the reasons behind his success so far at the top level and he’s not going to stop the work behind the scenes which has led to making loads of runs and even reaching the world number one position as far as batting in test cricket is concerned.

“I’ve tried to make my game as adaptable as possible, so I don’t have one way of batting. Some people play their whole career and bat one certain way and have one method that works… I’m always working on my game and working on my technique to think of ways I can score runs,” said Marnus Labuschagne.