Marn of the match as Bulls bury Blues in Shield decider
MARNUS Labuschagne will return to England next week with a Sheffield Shield title, a six-figure pay rise and a seasoned voice believing he has arrived as a batting superstar.
Queensland beat NSW by an innings and 33 runs for its ninth Shield title win at Allan Border Field on Sunday, an extra sweet win for the Bulls given they had failed to beat the Blues in six previous Shield finals. In a COVIDdisrupted season reduced from 10 to eight fixture games Queensland proved itself a tight, robust unit under coach Wade Seccombe and captain Usman Khawaja, who declared “we love spending time with each other, so this is beautiful”.
The final was a powerful team effort but Labuschagne’s stunning 192, in which he barely hit a ball in the air, was the sublime gold stud that so impressed rival off-spinner Nathan Lyon he urged his young teammates to learn from it as it happened.
“In my eyes he is a superstar already but he has the potential to be one of the greats,’’ Lyon said of Labuschagne after the duo became the first players in more than four decades to play all Tests and Sheffield Shield games in the one summer.
“This is the best I have seen him bat. He just really loves the game.
“He will go home tonight and bat in his garage.’’
As Labuschagne prepares to return to English county Glamorgan, where his run rampage started, he is set to receive a significant promotion up Cricket Australia’s 20-man contract list, which will mean a handsome six-figure pay rise.
Blossoming leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson fittingly took three of the five NSW wickets to fall to finish a breakthrough summer with 32 wickets at 23 from just five games, behind only Lyon and Jackson Bird on the overall wicket-taker’s list.
Khawaja said of Labuschagne: “He has always had all the shots – the thing was he had to work out when to play them.
“He understands the game and bowlers what they are trying to do.
“It is beautiful to watch. “I honestly thought we were the best team this year.’’