Bring on the bouncers, says super sub Marnus Labuschagne

It says something about Marnus Labuschagne that he had considered the possibility he could be drafted into the Lord’s Test.

Australia’s concussion substitute Marnus Labuschagne hits out during the final day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Picture: Getty Images

It says something about Marnus Labuschagne that he had quietly considered the possibility he could be drafted into the Australian team for the last day of the Lord’s Test as the game’s first concussion substitute.

It says more that he came in and scored 59 against a hostile bowling attack pressing for victory on a pitch with uneven bounce. The going was too much for the senior batsmen ahead of him in the order but Labuschagne looked assured and in control.

It says even more about the 25-year-old that he played so well after getting a face full of a Jofra Archer bouncer on the second ball he faced. Labuschagne is, as demonstrated above, very keen, very talented and extremely tough.

The kid from Klerksdorp in South Africa won his way into Justin Langer’s team ahead of the more experienced Matthew Renshaw last year through the force of his personality. He bowls leg spin, fields well and he is a determined bat. The coach saw something of himself in the Queenslander and his hunch has proven correct.

The selectors will desperately want to keep Labuschagne in the team for the third Test, starting in Leeds on Thursday, but will have a difficult decision to make should Steve Smith prove fit. His half-century, at the team’s time of need and against the bowling of Archer and Stuart Broad, will weigh like a hundred. It is certainly the best innings of his Test career and probably not a surprise given he is the only man to pass 1000 runs in the County Championship this year.

Marnus Labuschagne is struck on the helmet by a delivery from Jofra Archer at Lord’s. Picture: Getty Images

He admits it was frustrating to miss the first Test and not be in the XI for four of the five days at Lord’s.

“When you’re batting well, you obviously want to be playing, because there’s a lot of times when you might be struggling a bit or not going that well,” he said.

“When you’re playing well you want to be playing, so it was disappointing but winning an Ashes is a squad thing — and obviously it showed the importance of everyone in the squad being ready to play because at any stage of the game you could be called upon.”

He made an impressive 41 on a terrible wicket in the Ashes warm-up match at Southampton but dismissed the effort, saying he had batted with freedom because he was in after one wicket had fallen in the match and so he didn’t know how hard it was going to be.

He knew how hard it was going to be to face Archer on that final day at Lord’s. Tim Paine had interrupted the batsman’s morning net session to give him the news because Steve Smith had been diagnosed with concussion after a terrifying blow from the bowler.

Archer was generating serious heat, his sharp bounce is always going to be hard to pick, but it became devilishly difficult on an inconsistent pitch.

Labuschagne had every right to be shaken when the bowler smashed the second delivery he faced into his grille, but he got up quickly and shook it off instead.

“It got me flush but it was just ‘get up and get on with it’,” he said.

“It got me quite flush in the grille so it took most of the blow. You get up and try and act cool. Then it was just about trying to refocus and make sure you’re watching that ball again. I watched that one pretty close.”

Not the greatest of scholars, Labuschagne’s greatest concern was failing the concussion test because of ignorance not injury

“You kind of just want to stay calm and make sure you answer his questions properly,” he said. “I was like ‘I know where I am, I’m good, I’m good, just get off the field’ but there’s a process now.

“There is no way I wanted to get off the field. I wanted to stay in the contest. Getting to play at Lord’s is a pretty great experience.

“You just want to make sure you’re ready (for the Test), that you listen to and follow their instructions is the key. Ninety eight per cent of the time they’re going to make great decisions and if you have to come off, it’s obviously because you’re not all right.

“I was feeling fine — I just jumped the gun a bit on the questions. I was like ‘look I know where I am, I know what Test it is, I’m on 0 and it was a fast bouncer’. Nah so — that’s sort of how it goes.”

For Labuschagne it sounds as if the concussion test is a greater challenge than facing Archer’s 150km/h bouncers. You wouldn’t put it past him to have cheat notes on the back of his bat for just such a situation: name, age, venue …

It’s that determination to stay in the middle that has endeared him to Australian cricket and that should ensure he is around for many years to come.