Marnus Labuschagne

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MJG14

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Admittedly, I was critical of his selection (particularly for the Sydney test v India) but he has completely proven me wrong.

Completely happy to be proven wrong as well, he has been superb.
 

The Passenger

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Didn't have him in my Ashes squad, but he has proven the doubters wrong so far.

We are desperate for some performances in that top order, and this is the closest we've got to looking at a long term prospect in the top 3 or quite some time.

Has always had the technique, the question was around his hunger for runs.

It will be very interesting to follow the progress of his career.
 

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DaRick

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I was agog when he was selected to play against India with no real Shield form to speak of, but he's shown himself to have a good technique and temperament. Scoring four 50's in tricky conditions when most of the batsmen around you are falling like tenpins speaks for itself.

Talented legspinner, too. Can turn the ball more than Smith can while offering more control, although he doesn't seem to have that much variation. He has looked reasonably threatening on turners.
 

Park cricketer

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I predicted his greatness when he was still a meme player. So there's that.

On a serious note, eventhough when he debuted, he didn't have great stats to back up, what stood out was that he looked compact like a test player should. Even his defensive shots and the cover drives were very classy. Usually the newbies in Australia in the recent era look more suited to limited overs cricket than five day cricket. Take Head for example, eventhough he has had some decent knocks after he debuted in test cricket, when you watch him, he just looks like he'll be more comfortable in coloured clothing than whites. Same goes for the likes of Khawaja and Wade. But Labuschagne looked the part in test cricket even when he didn't make great scores.

That told me he had something about him, and was someone for the future. But his knock as an injury sub and the next match was something I didn't expect even if I knew he was a good player. Good on him for grabbing his chances like all good players do.
 
Aug 27, 2014
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I was neither for or against him, but so far he has looked the goods :thumbsu:
Same, but from moment I saw him come in for concussed Smith in second Test he has more than won me over considering the wickets tumbling in those times.
Fielding and part time leg spin has me liking him very much now. Seems to have ideal mental application for what Test cricket is about.
 
Dec 21, 2012
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Remember seeing his FC debut at Adelaide Oval and he looked a pretty solid player, something which is somewhat rare for a FC debutant.

The fact he apparently lives and breathes cricket and is only 25 makes me think there’s some significant improvement left in him. He’s already shown he can bat in England which is a big tick.
 

gbatman

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There are a lot of batsmen around who are more talented but will never be anywhere near as good as Labuschagne quite simply because talent is half the requirement and that will make you a great T20 player but when it comes to tests and ODI cricket mindset is the rest.

Watching a young player leave the ball well, select his shots and force the bowlers to bowl at him and score from ones and twos. It used to be basic Test and ODI batting mentality but has died out with so many players focusing on T20 cricket rather than playing for their country in tests and ODIs.

Good batsmen, they are well programmed and have a good technique. He's got that and his bowling is better than part time.

Really happy to see him come on. I think he will be our next up and coming recognised international batsman.
 

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No I think it’s over for real this time.

Now he will probably make 3 shield tons before the first test...

On form, Marsh is in a better space than he was. My issue with Marsh is he's not a number 6, he's a 7 at best, ideally an 8. You would be happy with your 7 or 8 averaging 20-25 and getting a wicket or two here and there.
 

MC Bad Genius

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Very happy to be proven wrong with this one. The selectors have found the proverbial needle in the haystack. Now to do the same thing twice more for a pair of new openers!

He's had a fantastic series and will hopefully kick on with some of those starts on the more familiar home soil.
 
May 5, 2006
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On form, Marsh is in a better space than he was. My issue with Marsh is he's not a number 6, he's a 7 at best, ideally an 8. You would be happy with your 7 or 8 averaging 20-25 and getting a wicket or two here and there.

8 Cummins 123 wickets @ 2.6 per innings
9 Starc 215 @ 2.2
10 Lyon 363 @ 2.1
11 Hazelwood 184 @ 2.0

Total 9 between them

Marsh 42 @ 0.78
Watson 75 @ 0.81

Marsh has been massively underused as a bowler. In 54 innings he has bowled 431 overs @ 8 per innings. In the 5th test he bowled 18 overs 5/46 and 11 overs 2/40. Those are proper bowling figures but not representative of his career so far.

Marsh can't really bat at 7 right now because Paine isn't doing enough to bat at 6. I'm OK with mixing things up to 5 batsmen, keeper, 5 bowlers with one of them being Marsh as we have multiple bowlers all capable of averaging 20-30. But it's not typically how we line up. All rounder in the Australian test team usually means 5-10 overs an innings. That is too big a luxury for a #7 or #8.
 

Barlos Crathwaite

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Has that fanatical, live and breathe cricket type personality that Ponting and Smith with his batting practice has. Bit of an information sponge, asking Warne about legspin. Probably does all the optional net sessions.
It's great to see an attitude such as that these days. Although he comes across as possibly too intense. Like he gets up at 3am to study bowlers for 12 hours or something and then sits on Langer's knee listening to his old cricket stories. Just has that look about him.
 
Oct 6, 2013
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I actually picked that he would be good when he played for us last summer against India. I make far better calls with this type of stuff than with footy(didn't think Brisbane was a finals chance this preseason despite being one of Neale's biggest fans).

Has really come on better than anyone expected though. I'm expecting Uzzie to find a spot for the next test series though whether that be opening or at 5 or 6.
 

Doodlesweaver

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I was agog when he was selected to play against India with no real Shield form to speak of, but he's shown himself to have a good technique and temperament. Scoring four 50's in tricky conditions when most of the batsmen around you are falling like tenpins speaks for itself.

Talented legspinner, too. Can turn the ball more than Smith can while offering more control, although he doesn't seem to have that much variation. He has looked reasonably threatening on turners.

Just needs to concentrate on having a good stock ball as a part-timer, that will take him far enough.
 

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