Labuschagne was bowled for 4 by Shoriful Islam when the ball cannoned off his thigh pad into leg stump. That followed scores of 1 and 31 in the first Test, the second innings a missed opportunity to build on a start when he played around a full delivery from Taijul Islam. Speaking to Fox Cricket before play, Labuschagne said that dismissal was a result of wanting to “rush a bit”.
“You know there’s an opportunity to put a bit of pressure on the bowler and probably played a shot I didn’t really need to at that time of the game,” he added. “But it’s a new opportunity this week and all those lessons learned last week hopefully we can put them into place.”
“He was unlucky today. There’s no doubt about that,” Ponting added. “But that tends to happen to you as well when you’re struggling and you’re trying to find some form and some rhythm. The worry that I had with him, I think there’s some technical deficiency there but he’s making the margin for error for the bowlers too great. With the length, he can’t score off the back foot. If you can’t score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game. So I well and truly think it’s time to have a look at somebody else.
“Don’t get me wrong I’m not one for making panic change just because we lost last week. It wasn’t about that. Guys that I played with they would tell you that I’d do everything I could to keep them in these players in my side. I didn’t want to make change but when something stretches out as long as it has now and it’s well over two years since he’s made a Test match hundred.”
“I do think Travis Head has got to bat in the middle order but, by doing that, you need to find another opener,” Waugh said on Fox Cricket. “Then you have got Marnus. How many more chances does he get? He might not get another bat in this game, so he will be hoping he does. He might have played his last game for Australia.”
However, having dropped Labuschagne last year in West Indies, then recalling him for the start of the Ashes after he dominated domestic cricket, only to see him still struggling, it would be very hard for the selectors to quickly go back Weatherald even if he churned out runs for Queensland in the upcoming summer.
Australia’s Test squad for the three-match series in South Africa is expected to be named in early September.
