Australia head coach Justin Langer backed Marnus Labuschagne to cement his place in all three formats for his country, hinting at his possible inclusion in the squad for this year’s T20 World Cup, scheduled for October-November in India.
Labuschagne has been absolutely brilliant for Australia in Test cricket since making a comeback to the side during the Ashes 2019, where he filled in as Steve Smith’s concussion substitute at Lord’s and performed superbly.
Making that window of opportunity count, the Queensland right-hander has become a mainstay of the Test batting unit. The 26-year-old is averaging 60.81 after his 18 Tests with 1,885 runs, including 5 hundreds and 10 fifties.
Since last year, Labuschagne has also made a smooth transition to Australia’s ODI set up and is on his way to booking a ticket for the 2023 World Cup in India, where his ability to negotiate spin through the middle-overs will make him a valuable asset.
But in an interesting conversation with former England captain Michael Vaughan on Fox Cricket’s ‘Road to the Ashes’ – a chat on the evolution of T20 cricket on Tests – Langer said he believes Labuchagne will also be flourishing as a T20 batter soon. He hinted that Labuschagne could be included in the T20 World Cup 2021 squad or at least be a part of discussions for the same, even though he is yet to make his T20I debut.
While for Vaughan, there is little doubt that T20 has had a negative impact on the quality of Test match batsmanship, Langer cited the example of Labuschagne as one of those rare batters who can maintain success irrespective of the format without making any drastic change in their basic game.
“That’s why I think Marnus Labuschagne is such a breath of fresh air and I am absolutely certain he will be able to play all three forms of the game. He will be a superstar in all three forms of the game because he’s got such a great base of technique,”
Langer said.
For Langer, the key to Labuschagne’s progression are his strong basics, developed playing first-class cricket at a critical stage of his growth as batsman. Langer strongly advocated for youngsters to follow suit, urging them to prioritise the red-ball game and become robust players who would then be able to also excel in the shorter versions.
“It’s probably the opposite to what people are expecting me to say here, but I would be teaching my kids to play red-ball cricket because the more you learned the art of batting, the more chance you’ve got of being successful in all three forms,”
“But I think a lot of people are getting sidetracked by the glamour and potential money. Remember the big money only goes to the best players and the smart player will be building a really strong foundation of technique and concentration and can play all three forms of the game,”
he added.
The cream of Australian players are currently involved in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. The national team will then travel to West Indies and Bangladesh for respective T20I series in the build-up to the T20 World Cup, which is expected to begin in October and finish mid-November in India.
Australia were originally scheduled to host the T20 World Cup in late 2020 but in a massive rejig due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they swapped hosting rights with India for the event postponed by a year and will now be hosting the 2022 version of the competition.
