If selectors want evidence that there is more to picking teams than facts and figures, they should point critics to Marnus Labuschagne’s rise from maligned Sheffield Shield player to the world’s No.1 Test batter.
Trevor Hohns already knew how tough Marnus Labuschagne was. Then he watched him take on James Pattinson on a spicy track in Brisbane.
If selectors ever want evidence that there is more to picking teams than facts and figures, they should point critics to Labuschagne’s rise from maligned Sheffield Shield player to the world’s No.1 Test batter. The quirky Queenslander is exhibit 1A for the importance of trusting the eye over the numbers, why selection is a craft and not a science.
It’s doubtful Shane Warne, former Test opener Ed Cowan and World Cup winner turned pundit and Cricket Australia director Mel Jones would agree on much – but all three could not see what selectors saw. They were not on their own. Though proven wrong, they had grounds to be mistaken.With a first-class average in the low 30s when he became baggy green No.455, few could argue that Labuschagne was picked on performance.
Tough, hard-nosed, work ethic. Speak to anyone involved in Australian cricket about Labuschagne and these are invariably the words commonly used to describe the fastidious trainer who puts his hand up for the unwanted jobs. Labuschagne’s eccentric mannerisms and dog-at-the-door enthusiasm on the field can mask the heavy-duty cricketer deep inside. Nerves were frayed in the Australian dressing room when Jofra Archer floored Smith at Lord’s. Smith’s removal from the game did not help the mood.
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