‘Labusmith’ combine to tilt series back towards tourists
Smith and Labuschagne impress as master and apprentice, writes Tim Wigmore at Old Trafford
Until Steve Smith walked out at the end of the seventh over, he had never previously batted with Marnus Labuschagne, who, of course, owed his Ashes selection to the blow that Smith suffered at Lord’s, which thrust him into the Test mid-match.
For Australia, there was a most
welcome hint of master and apprentice about the pair’s 116-run alliance at this critical juncture of the series. Labuschagne even seemed to have assumed some of Smith’s elaborate movements after leaving the ball alone.
It is often said that Smith’s method is so unique that it is impossible to learn anything from it. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph before this Test, Labuschagne explained why he did not agree. “When you break it down and you look at what he’s actually doing, it’s not that much different to anyone else’s technique. He does crab, he crowds off stump, he makes the bowlers bowl in certain areas and he’s very good off his legs. But in terms of his technique, it’s not as abnormal as it may look.”
And so, Labuschagne said, he was consciously trying to import some of the best of Smith while staying true to his own game. “Seeing him batting on off stump, making the bowlers bowl either wide of off stump or bowling at his stumps means he can score runs.”
Labuschagne does not get quite as far across as Smith but his back leg still often goes past his off stump. Like Smith, Labuschagne’s technique recognises how soft hands – such as those which safely diverted a Craig Overton delivery through gully to bring up the
century stand for the third wicket – can provide insurance against the occasional misjudgment.
There are similarities in where the two score, too. Both are efficient off their legs, partly because their stances are so adept at opening up the leg side. Yet perhaps the biggest link lies in the strength of their character. That was detectable in the equanimity with which Smith approached his first Test innings since being concussed by Jofra Archer.
This innings began against Archer armed with the new ball – exactly the scenario Joe Root would have longed for. But Smith evaded a bouncer third ball, then drove his fifth through the covers for four. He was up and away, as serene and ominous as ever.
The same resolve underpinned how Labuschagne embraced his promotion from No4 to No3 – not merely a cosmetic shift, as Root would attest – and the ramped-up challenge of taking strike before the first over was out. With a cocktail of Stuart Broad’s nip, Archer’s menace and a raucous crowd, this felt like the moment that England could snare a decisive advantage in the 2019 Ashes.
Instead, Labuschagne showed the clear-headed judgment that has defined this series; no one has left more than his 31 per cent of balls. Yet this obduracy was combined with judicious counter-attacking. The upshot of this alliance was to transform the feel of the day. Almost imperceptibly, Australia’s third-wicket pair added 44 in their first nine overs to disorientate England. With the fielders dispersed, batting now seemed an altogether less onerous prospect.
It was a microcosm of their overall contribution to the series. Remarkably, during their stand, Labuschagne and Smith took their combined run tally for the series to more than the rest of Australia’s entire top seven, including the two batsmen who have been dropped midway through the series.
By the time that play was truncated, with Australia ascendant despite Labuschagne’s dismissal for 67, “Labusmith” had amassed 718 runs at an average of 103 this Ashes. The other Australian top-seven batsmen combined have a combined 691 runs at 19 apiece. Labuschagne and Smith have each batted four times this series and have a combined eight 50-plus scores out of eight attempts.
And so, as the two combined a new thought took hold. Perhaps, if Australia go on to retain the urn, they will look back on Smith’s blow at Lord’s as the moment they discovered the second batting linchpin of a victorious campaign.