Ashes: Marnus Labuschagne turns it around with 11th Test hundred

Marnus Labuschagne of Australia celebrates his century. Picture: Getty

What goes up must come down, not least for batting averages. Careers arc. Powers fade. Appetites dull. Either that or players would play for ever. Bowlers catch up too, while captains get wise and critics hover.

The slightly odd aspect of the lull in the career of Marnus Labuschagne, which he arrested on Saturday with an eleventh Test hundred after going without for seven months, is that none of the foregoing applied. Australia’s number three was never obviously out of form; merely of runs, and perhaps rhythm also, the beat of his career since the last Ashes in England having been so relentless.

His 111 in four and a half hours and 173 deliveries was Labuschagne at something like his best: calm, chanceless, soundly based, evenly paced. His 187-ball partnership of 103 with Mitchell Marsh has given Australia a hope of saving this Old Trafford Test match and thereby securing the Ashes, just as his dismissal as time ran short gave England a late lift, on a day there was less cricket than hoped for but more than many expected.

Morning broke amid intense local rain and frustration to match, to the point where some seemed to expect Australia to be prepared to declare and obediently lose the game in compliance with the spirit of cricket. Alas, as the news ticker on Sky’s fill-in programming showed ‘start delayed’, it was tempting to consider synonyms: ‘start derailed’, ‘start deluged’ or ‘start defunct’.

In the event, play was nearer than almost anyone imagined, Jimmy Anderson bowling the first ball just before 2.45pm, with Jonny Bairstow coming up to the stumps to keep the batters crease bound, and the lights doing their best to supplement the pale illumination.

But England found neither sideways movement nor variable bounce, nor even that much encouragement for Mark Wood: pace bowling suddenly felt like chopping wet logs. Rather, Labuschagne and Marsh batted with disarming freedom, the one moment of endangerment when Marsh hit up and under to the leg side boundary, the ball dropping just wide of Moeen the sweeper.

Otherwise, the crowd was subdued, and the over rate uninspiring: a dozen in the first hour despite neither appeals nor reviews. The ball needed replacing; the Bazball appeared to lose shape also.

This suited Labuschagne’s mission. Just last December, after his tenth hundred, he was averaging a heady 61, in the process rivalling his boon companion Steve Smith. Then began a gradual stepping down [dash] not quite the Sports Illustrated cover jinx or the Colliwobbles, but appreciable nonetheless, reflected in an average of 33 in eleven Tests, and in the decline of his Test ranking from one to five.

There was, as observed, no particular pattern to his dismissals, and thus an obvious technical fault to correct. Rather, Labuschagne seemed stuck in a perfectionistic loop [dash] it can be tiring even to watch Labuschagne, such is the fierceness of his work ethic in the nets and the static electricity he emits even in repose.

Since nicking off first ball at Edgbaston, the 29-year-old has put together a string of starts in these Ashes, and each time succumbed to his first error.

More culpably, he holed out in the second innings at Headingley, and fell mutedly in the first innings here, causing his average to fade to 53. That’s still more than Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey [dash] whose peak averages, by the way, were 60 and 85 respectively. But Labuschagne’s record was less uniform, the salient discrepancy being between his averages abroad and away: he has been twice as effective in Australia as elsewhere.

To redeem that yesterday required some steady defence and some opportunistic offence. At 4.15pm, the umpires decided arbitrarily that England could no longer bowl their pacemen. Moeen took the ball, with his usual varieties: some excellent deliveries, some dross.

Joe Root came on, and Labuschagne on quick feet lofted down the ground: a first six reduced Australia’s deficit to less than 100, a second propelled the batter into the 90s. Then a dash of luck: an inventive seamer from Root took Labuschagne’s outside edge, and zoomed past Crawley, in close attendance at slip.

A scampered off side single then brought Labuschagne only his second hundred in twenty offshore Tests. By the subdued celebrations, he displayed an awareness his job was only half done; by his disconsolate response to being caught at the wicket by Bairstow, he acknowledged the continued risk to Australia. To reinforce it, Marsh (31) gave a half-chance to Harry Brook off Root in the same over.

The last day here, nonetheless, looks in serious peril. By the standard set at Edgbaston where England felt they had morally won despite actually losing, having the better of a draw here would almost demand a national holiday. But everyone with a bit of cricket in their soul would leave at least a little disappointed: Australia have been beaten in Manchester everywhere but the scoreboard. In any case, Labuschagne will depart knowing that what goes down can also come up.