Mark Waugh says Jake Fraser-McGurk is ‘selling himself short’ and why Marnus Labuschagne should have gone to Perth

Jake Fraser-McGurk’s all-out attack approach to batting came under fire during the recent series against Pakistan, but Mark Waugh has a different take.

Australian great Mark Waugh says Jake Fraser-McGurk is “selling himself short” in his approach to opening the batting, contending that the struggling young gun may need to improve his footwork.

Waugh also argues that Aussie team management missed a trick by not sending the out-of-form Marnus Labuschagne to Perth for Sunday’s third one-day international against Pakistan, suggesting that it would have been an excellent preparation for next week’s first Test.

Fraser-McGurk was emblematic of Australia’s batting issues during the three-match ODI series – ultimately lost 2-1 – with the opener making scores of 16, 13 and seven as he flunked his audition to secure a spot at the top of the order in the absence of Travis Head and Mitch Marsh.

Jake Fraser-McGurk failed to fire in any of his three knocks against Pakistan. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

While the 22-year-old will get a chance to redeem himself in the three-match Twenty20 international series against the same opposition beginning in Brisbane on Thursday night, Waugh, one of Australia’s most decorated 50-over players and a World Cup winner in 1999, said the Indian Premier League sensation would be better served changing tack.

“Look, he’s obviously got great talent. He’s got great hand eye co-ordination, extremely clean hitter of the ball, but it’s probably going to be all about shot selection for him, and maybe just changing his mindset a little bit,” Fox Cricket expert Waugh told this masthead.

“He doesn’t have to hit every ball in the air, hit every ball for four. There’s plenty of time in a 50-over game to bat so I think he’s selling himself short. If he thinks his job is just to get a quick-fire 30 or 40, he’s got to think I want to bat 20 overs. So I think mindset wise, needs to change that.

“And probably technical, you know, he doesn’t move his feet a lot, which a lot of the modern-day players don’t so, you know, there might be a few little tweaks to his technique as well. He’s got the talent, but he’s obviously not the finished article.”

Mark Waugh has some advice for Fraser-McGurk. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Labuschagne was one of five Australian Test members who didn’t fly to Perth for the deciding ODI with Cricket Australia opting instead to rest them ahead of the first Test against India beginning at Perth Stadium on November 22.

While Waugh said the long list of absentees – the XI contained just three members of the team that won the World Cup final last year – was “no excuse” for the way Australia played in its eight-wicket loss to Pakistan on Sunday, he said Labuschagne would have been better served heading to Perth for the match, having not passed 22 in his past five professional innings and on the back of a relatively underwhelming 18 months in Test cricket.

Waugh believes the out-of-form Labuschagne should have gone to Perth. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“I think it would have been good for him, actually,” Waugh said.

“I think to play on that pitch against good quality fast bowling would have been good, because it would have been almost like a Test match. Your mindset and skill-wise, moving your feet, letting the ball go, playing the short-pitched ball. I think it would have been good for Marnus to go there and potentially make some runs, but the management thought that they didn’t want players travelling back and forth so much before the first Test, and that’s the way they went. But in my mind, it would have been good to be over there playing a 50-over game for the batsmen, in particular.”

Originally published as Mark Waugh says Jake Fraser-McGurk is ‘selling himself short’ and why Marnus Labuschagne should have gone to Perth