Bazball: Marnus Labuschagne, Australia’s star batter, feels that England’s new ‘Bazball’ concept is keeping Australia in contention. Notably, the host team declared early in the first innings of the first Test at Edgbaston, which came back to haunt them on Day 5 when the Ben Stokes-led side lost by only two wickets.
When discussing the first Test of the 2017 Ashes series, Labuschagne noted Joe Root’s aggressive attitude in the second innings, which ultimately helped Australia win the match. The player went on to say that Root was in great form and that if he had scored 40-50 more runs, the visiting squad would have been put under a lot of strain. Meanwhile, the English players have spoken out and declared that they want to play a similar style of cricket, but according to Labuschagne, this would benefit the visitors.
“His (Joe Root’s) method and those shots are keeping us in the game. As an example, consider the second inning. He most likely had the ability to absolutely shut us out and take the game away from us. He pitched an incredible inning, but he only got 46 outs, and if it goes into 80-plus, we’re chasing 300, which would need a significant effort. The way they’re playing benefits us,” Labuschagne was reported as saying by the Daily Mail.
I don’t believe we performed well at Edgbaston: Labuschagne
Despite winning the opening Test of the five-match series, Labuschagne believes the squad did not perform well. He also stated that he and Steve Smith must improve, although he eventually praised Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey for their outstanding performance at Edgbaston.
“At the end of the day, we played below what I believe our team’s standard is. In terms of hitting, Uz (Usman Khawaja) was fantastic, but I believe most of the other hitters desire to be better than that. Actually, Alex Carey was excellent as well.
“We walked away from the first Test 1-0 up, and that’s a positive sign for us because I don’t think we played at our best,” Labuschagne said.
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