Ashes 2019 | Pretty tough to fill Steve Smith's shoes, asserts Marnus Labuschagne
Marnus Labuschagne, who has scored three consecutive half-centuries after making his Ashes debut as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith, has said that it is “pretty tough” to fill the former skipper’s shoes. The batsman scored a fighting 74 runs in the first innings - seven more than England.
When Steve Smith went down to a rapid Jofra Archer bouncer in the second Test at Lord’s, England would have fancied their chances against an Australian middle order that had looked shaky. However, the incoming Marnus Labuschagne, who became the first-ever concussion substitute in Test cricket, ensured that Australia had an anchor they could build the innings around. Since that substitution, the Aussie has put up scores of 59, 74 and 80 in his first-ever Ashes.
"As a batter, you want to score hundreds but it was more about getting as big a lead as we could. It's going to be pretty tough ever to fill Steve Smith's shoes,” said Labuschagne, reported AFP.
"But from a personal perspective, I'm just trying to focus on my own game."
"Playing for Glamorgan helped a lot. Playing against the swinging ball in different conditions -- and just learning my game and learning to put big runs on the board - definitely helped me and built my confidence as well."
The game at Headingley is evenly-poised with England needing 203 runs in two days while Australia can retain the Ashes by scalping the remaining seven wickets. While England have already put together a 126-run partnership in the second innings, Labuschagne believes that one wicket will give Australia the chance to completely derail England chances for a victory.
"That's how it works over here, you always find there's big partnerships but then there's one, two, three wickets. It can happen very quickly," he explained.