Windies’ pace plan to unsettle Marnus

The West Indies believe they have unearthed the a weakness in Marnus Labuschagne’s game that also stalled Steve Smith’s career.

Marnus Labuschagne reacts after being hit during the first Test in Perth Picture: Getty Images

The West Indies believe Alzarri Joseph unearthed a weakness in Marnus Labuschagne’s game against the new ball.

The alleged discovery came in the same Test in which Steve Smith overcame a similar flaw that had restricted his talents since the 2019 Ashes.

Strap yourself in. This could be fun. And might have been even more fun if Australian decided to return fire with fire by selecting exciting young quick Lance ­Morris to replace the injured Pat Cummins, but the more sedate Scott Boland, with his 18 wickets at 9.55 from three Tests, is the preferred option.

Smith will be captain in the match in Cummins’ absence.

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It was Adelaide in January 1933 that England’s Harold Larwood felled Australian captain Bill Woodfull and wicketkeeper Bert Oldfield. On that occasion, mounted police were used to control the incensed crowd.

Changes in field regulations, safety equipment and standards of behaviour should keep things a little more respectable this week.

This is Adelaide, after all.

Labuschagne scored a double century in the first innings in Perth and backed up with a hundred in the second, but looked less certain against Joseph’s short ball. He was, however, in a race against the clock to score the runs before the declaration at lunch.

West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick said they would change their approach to the batsman in Adelaide and he expected others to act accordingly.

“The cricket world is so small you can’t hide and once any team exposes a weakness, the other teams will be having a look,’’ he said. “I’m sure Jofra Archer, wherever he’s sitting, will be having a look, ticking some boxes.”

While Archer never got Smith out in the 2019 Ashes, New Zealand’s Neil Wagner led the charge of aiming short at the batsman, who said the tactic forced him into difficult positions at the wicket.

It has taken Smith two years to adjust but he is now hitting the short ball in front of square instead of being forced to paddle it over his shoulder, and his 220 not out across both innings in Perth suggested the change had worked.

Smith has the spring back in his step. His hands, feet and head are in a better place, and he is back, temporarily, in charge of the Australian cricket team, but still not sleeping.

Smith will wear the captain’s blazer to the toss for the second successive Adelaide Test after Cummins failed to recover in time from his injury.

Smith says it is impossible to hold the wheel for someone else and so he will do it his way, but as Australia never lost a Test at this venue under his leadership, there is little to be concerned about. He was not relieved of the job because he lacked tactical or competitive nous.

“I have to do it my own way, I can’t try to be someone else,” Smith said. “When something like this happens, we’ve got plans in place for certain batters but ultimately it’s whatever the game entails, and what needs to be done.

“I’m pretty chilled. I took over the game here last year and thought it worked pretty smoothly and same again.

“You get that information all the time (from the coaches) – what we think is going to work – but ultimately we’re the ones out in the middle and have to make the decisions.”

In Perth, Smith led the side in the first session of the last innings as Australia tried to get Tagenarine Chanderpaul on the hook by setting the field deep.

It created chances but looked a little scattershot when the opposition reached 0-116 before a beautiful ball from Starc ended the impressive debutant’s innings.

Cummins reappeared when the wicket fell.

“It’s Pat’s team, so as soon as he came back out it’s like ‘it’s all yours, go for it’,” Smith said.

“He came back on because we hadn’t taken a wicket for a little while there and he thought he may have had to come and bowl at some point the next day.

“That was the theory behind it. But as soon as he came on the field, it’s back to work.”

Smith is a notoriously poor sleeper during Tests. In the trailer for the new Test documentary there’s a shot of him asleep on the bus while his teammates entertain themselves around him.

He denied, however, that leading the team had anything to do with his insomnia.

“It’s to do with batting mainly,” he said. “Not a lot’s changed.”