Ashes: Steve Smith’s substitute Marnus Labuschagne saves the day

On the Saturday afternoon of the Second Test, Marnus Labuschagne would have been immersed in the tasks that have been the lot of supernumeraries on cricket tours since time immemorial: fetching, carrying, training obediently, generally seeking to maintain a sunny disposition. Least experienced of Australia’s squad, he was probably last aboard the airliner, and likeliest to stimulate fan debate over pronunciation of his name.

Marnus Labuschagne of Australia.

But Steve Smith slept well that night. This was not a good sign. He is usually a poor sleeper, even if he feels more janglingly energised for it. Smith’s uninterrupted slumber was a first medical sign that something was amiss after his near-decapitation by Jofra Archer the day before and his queasy reappearance.

It led to the Australian team doctor Richard Saw’s further application of SCAT5 — you’ll be hearing more of this complex test of concussion recovery — and an unprecedented decision. It’s pronounced La-Bu-Scack-Nee by the way: you’ll need to know for the future quiz question about who was Test cricket’s first concussion substitute.

How to substitute for Steve Smith, average 62, when from your previous five Tests you average 25? Those aren’t shoes to fill; they’re canoes.

Personally, the pair aren’t polar opposites. Like Smith, Labuschagne is made of cricket: he plays it, thinks it, talks it, compulsively, amiably, with anyone who will listen.

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It was jokingly wondered whether Labuschagne, as what the new regulation requires to be a like-for-like replacement, would have to emulate Smith’s full choreography — all the swivels and sways, jerks and jives. If asked, Labuschagne is the kind who would have done his best to oblige.

Once England had set Australia 266 to win, or more pointedly 48 overs to survive, Labuschagne had little time to accustom to his heady promotion. From the Nursery End, Archer presented the left-handers with new problems from round the wicket, nicking off both David Warner and Usman Khawaja. Alongside Justin Langer on the balcony for much of the rest of the day, Warner cut a pensive figure.

To the right-handers Archer presented now-familiar troubles. One Test into his career, in fact, and it’s already hard to think of a bouncer more menacing — a menace accentuated by the slinky delicacy with which it is delivered.

Marnus Labuschagne reacts as the ball, bowled by England's Jofra Archer hits him on the helmet during play on the fifth day of the second Ashes cricket Test match.

During the World Cup, when it was a defensive option, Archer was arguably the one bowler who reminded onlookers of the bouncer’s offensive, intimidatory origins. Most bowlers glance the helmet, because the batsman has moved to evade; Archer rattles actual grilles. During the Cup, it was Hashim Amla and Alex Carey; yesterday it was Labuschagne, the second ball he faced.

The impact was stunning. The topple was disturbing. But, as if to reassure onlookers that no concussion substitute would be required for the concussion substitute, Labuschagne bounced up immediately, like one of those inflatable clowns with sand in the bottom.

Fast becoming a familiar face on the circuit, Richard Saw materialised to go through his checklist; Michael Neser arrived with three helmets, as if in case extra protection was required.

Archer then beat Labuschagne’s outside edge thrice. The batsman held his shape after each delivery, petrified not by fear but by pure, raw pace. Impressively, though, he recognised one of those half vollies that in such circumstances often goes unpunished, and drove what would be the first of eight boundaries.

At times, Smith himself appeared in a dressing room window, faintly downcast but also if protective of his replacement. In fact, by the time Labuschagne entered double figures, he looked compact, composed and disarmingly secure — reassurance for Australia given the thin time, continued yesterday, that Cameron Bancroft is having. Labschagne’s partnership of 85 in 132 deliveries with Travis Head took Australia deep into its vigil, and was only ended by a divisive intercession.

Joe Root was convinced he caught the Labuschagne sweep shot that rebounded from short leg’s knee. The unaided eye suggested he was right; the assisted introduced a good deal of doubt. But once Aleem Dar gave the ‘soft signal’ for out [dash] and the umpire had a better view than anyone — Labuschagne’s escape route was essentially blocked.

Australia’s escape route still contained twists. Saw came out again, briefly, when Archer’s first ball to Matthew Wade skimmed the batsman’s helmet — being hit by Archer is becoming an Australian rite of passage. A good catch by Buttler then did for Wade, a superb catch by Joe Denly for Tim Paine. But the hosts always had the job ahead of them, and arguably put it there.

Marnus Labuschagne plays a shot during play on the fifth day of the second Ashes cricket Test.

A game going to such a wire invites backward interpretation. The loss of ten overs at the start of the day was a mixed blessing for England — the game grew easier to save but harder to win, on a slow surface that had not seen quite enough traffic to deteriorate significantly.

England’s run then came later than expected. It was not until the 60th over that Jonny Bairstow launched Nathan Lyon down the ground for six runs’ worth of shifting intent; England proceeded to play the one-day cricket at which they excel, ransacking 90 in twelve overs. Stokes, who had abjured the sweep abstemiously, launched consecutive deliveries from Lyon into Mount Stand. Bairstow heaved Lyon into the Compton Stand, Stokes Siddle into the Grandstand.

Their hug as the latter reached his hundred recalled the euphoric scenes here thirty-five days earlier. Jason Roy’s shelling of a straightforward slip chance offered by Head (22) off Stokes after tea then emphasised the passage of time and fame. No single event on the final day had such influence.

To preserve their series lead, meanwhile, Australia passed a test of resourcefulness. Over the next three days attention will revert from the accomplishment of the substitute to the condition of the substituted, but Labuschagne has done enough to ensure that he will have less watching and waiting to do for the next month.