Acrimony all in the past for Labuschagne

The shadow of the sandpaper scandal hangs over the Test series as Marnus Labuschagne prepares to face the country of his birth.

Marnus Labuschagne throws down deliveries to teammate Steve Smith at Allan Border Field on Wednesday Picture: Getty Images

It has been nearly five years since the sandpaper scandal but the repercussions still linger. Amid the continuing acrimony over David Warner’s leadership ban, in the background South Africa and Australia prepare to renew hostilities in what is the first Test series between the two countries since the infamous clashes of 2018.

Marnus Labuschagne, who was born in South Africa but has never played a Test against the Proteas, thinks that both sides will not want to revisit those times when the Test series begins this Saturday at the Gabba.

“I don’t, we’ve sort of buried that and it’s something in the past and I don’t think either team is ­really going to delve into that part, but I can only speak from what I think and what our side is thinking,” he said.

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While Kagiso Rabada remains in the team, most of the provocateurs on the South African side have moved on. Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock have left their country’s cricket set-up.

Five of the Australians remain, including Warner and Steve Smith, who wore most of the blame.

The behaviour of Pat Cummins’ Test team is, however, a far cry from the combative, if not ugly, Australian sides of old.

The side was chastened by the outpouring of public anger over the incident and the series of controversies that led up to it. Under Tim Paine and Justin Langer, a new course was taken and there has been no deviation from it.

Surely there is no going back to the barking dogs, chesting and cheating, scuffles in stair cases and abuse so ugly on the field that it forced at least one commentator to unplug the feed from the stump microphones that they had in their ears.

Curiously, Australians were more contemptuous of their side’s behaviour than their opponents.

Senior South African cricket correspondent Firdose Moonda wrote about the most “abrasive” cricket rivalry on the ESPN Cric-info website this week and made an interesting observation about the sandpaper affair.

“Prior to Sandpapergate, South African players had been caught tampering three times in as many years, Faf du Plessis twice (in 2013 and 2016, the latter as captain) and Vernon Philander in 2014, and were defended, not punished, by their board,” she wrote.

“In du Plessis’ cases, CSA mounted the everybody-does-it-defence strongly; in Philander’s, they threatened the broadcaster not to air footage of him gouging the ball with his thumbnail.

“It was shown anyway and Philander was fined 75 per cent of his match fee but there was no contrition from South Africa. To see the Australians launch an investigation, to hear their prime minister speak on the matter and to discover the sentences handed out to the guilty was bemusing for South Africans. There are actual criminals in this country that get off lighter.”

Warner has his own battles. Runs that were there in the white-ball format are not coming at Test level. There is confidence in his technique and his ability and he carries the full faith of his team.

“Davey has been terrific around the group, he always brings the energy,” Labuschagne said. “He knows what his role in the team is and he knows coming into this he has a great record against South Africa and he is going to look to put the pressure on and do what he does best.

“You don’t become one of the greatest openers Australia has seen not being consistent a performer. He’s had many things thrown at him but always seems to find a way to come out on top.”

Labuschagne said he had been batting outside the crease in the nets before play at Adelaide to prepare for a South African attack that is expected to be faster and more hostile than most.

Like Steve Smith before him, he is working on being in the right position and swivelling into the pull shot from a solid base in the anticipation of short, fast bowling.

South Africa arrives with little experience in its batting line-up but a lot of promise among its bowlers. Two-metre tall left-arm quick Marco Jansen is one to watch.

The 22-year-old has 37 wickets at an average of 18.59 from his seven Test matches and comes with a reputation for troubling bounce and aggression.

Son of South African rugby player Koos Jansen, he and his twin brother Duan were raised in the traditional manner.

“There have been some very tough times when my dad was very tough on us,” Marco said in a recent interview. “There was no sugar-coating. Back then, he spoke to us in the same way he is speaking to us now. Nothing has changed. That enabled us to grow and mature a bit quicker than all the other kids.”