Marn in the arena has slowed Smith
SOMETHING strange is happening in Australian cricket: Marnus Labuschagne has stolen Steve Smith’s Superman cape.
At first it was just the eccentric leaves and inseparable habits, but Labuschagne’s morphing into Smith has changed the dynamic of the Australian team and the records show it.
Since Labuschagne’s emergence as a star in his own right, Smith has gone back to being a mere mortal Test batsman. As one expands, the other contracts.
In the 10 Tests they’ve played together since the 2019 Ashes, Labuschagne has smashed 1396 runs at an average of 82.11, including five hundreds.
Smith in that same period has scored 579 runs at 38.60, with one Test century.
Wind the clock back to before Labuschagne replaced him as a concussion sub at Lord’s and it was Smith who, in 26 Test matches in Australia, had smashed 2931 runs at an extraordinary 83.74, including 13 hundreds.
For Smith, there’s a simple explanation.
“I bat my best when I’m under pressure and I’ve got that extra responsibility and I feel as though I need to be the one to stand up,” Smith said before the first Test.
“I think that’s the way I’ve gone about it for a while.”
The reality is, Smith is a batsman who relished being the man to rescue Australia when the building was burning down – which it often was.
His reputation was forged on being the heavy-duty colossus to save the team from scoreboard disaster when his back was to the wall.
But, since Labuschagne made his old No.3 position his own, Smith has been left with less fires to put out and, instead of coming to the crease with the team on the verge of crisis, Smith has become used to scenarios like the cushy 2-166 he walked out to against England at the Gabba.
Smith is looking at it as a luxury rather than a problem, but the question is: can the best batsman of his generation adjust to a new mindset where scoring runs is less often a matter of life or death?
Maybe it all changes in Adelaide.
“Over the past couple of home summers, the beauty is some of the other batters have really stood up and I haven’t had to score heaps of runs,” said Smith.
“Hopefully the rest of the line-up can score plenty this summer. I’d love to be a part of scoring plenty but, if we all score runs, I think that’s great for the team.”
Labuschagne has fixed so many problems for Australia’s top order with his meteoric rise, but he has also inadvertently impacted its greatest asset.
Smith acknowledges Labuschagne taking his place at No.3 – and scoring so consistently – might have changed things for his game, but the bigger picture is it has transformed Australia into a more complete batting unit.
“Marnus has played exceptionally well the last couple of years and I think it’s great when you’ve got a lot of people scoring runs consistently,” said Smith. “If you’re doing that your team is generally in a pretty good place. I think we’ve got a strong batting line-up for this summer..”