An open apology to Marnus Labuschagne

[stephen]

We all just thought he was another Langer favourite, just like the Marsh brothers, Bancroft, Harris and Siddle.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Never led Queensland, which is somewhat of a dealbreaker in my opinion

 

[honestbharani]

What's this obsession with naming every young talent coming through a captaincy candidate? Juz let the guy settle in. You got enough captaincy options as it is coz Paine will be around till Smith becomes eligible again and then your lot will do the stupid thing and make him captain again while Carey beds into test cricket. Smith will have another brain fade and then Carey will take over. Simple.

 

[andruid]

I think he’s referring to his countenance rather than his technique.

And tbh he does look like someone out of a 1930s cigarette card packet.

Looks like a hyper real battrick avatar.

Sorry Marnus.

 

[Flem274*]

what was he doing to not score fc runs? he looked the part when he came into test cricket and he's definitely scoring some runs now.

 

[NUFAN]

what was he doing to not score fc runs? he looked the part when he came into test cricket and he's definitely scoring some runs now.

Just finding himself, trying to belong and become as good as Renshaw, Burns, Khawaja.

As QLD play the allrounder Wildermuth at 6 it basically meant at full strength it felt like Marnus was just trying to hold off Heazlett (who played ODIs for Oz) and Hemphrey.

I didnt notice anything poor about him but he certainly didnt scream Test Cricketer to me either. I guess he found ways to get out if the bowler was bowling well, i remember seeing him get bowled a few times and edged in the slips, dismissals where youd think Test bowlers would exploit.

It honestly just seems like County cricket has helped him and he has improved, its great to see and he just seems like a top guy.

 

[GotSpin]

Yeah I criticised his selection a lot as well

Thought he was another favourite like marsh

 

[Gnske]

Would it be funny if the nature of cricket hits and in 12 months all these apologies get retracted.

Don't blow your loads yet gentlemen.

 

[honestbharani]

Just finding himself, trying to belong and become as good as Renshaw, Burns, Khawaja.

As QLD play the allrounder Wildermuth at 6 it basically meant at full strength it felt like Marnus was just trying to hold off Heazlett (who played ODIs for Oz) and Hemphrey.

I didnt notice anything poor about him but he certainly didnt scream Test Cricketer to me either. I guess he found ways to get out if the bowler was bowling well, i remember seeing him get bowled a few times and edged in the slips, dismissals where youd think Test bowlers would exploit.

It honestly just seems like County cricket has helped him and he has improved, its great to see and he just seems like a top guy.

Lots of David Boon about him, for me.

 

[honestbharani]

Add to that, what I wrote about him somewhere else:

JUz liked how he is set up at the crease as a batsman. Sometimes its just a gut feel, but you felt that if he worked hard enough and had the mental side of things right, he should go on to be a very successful batsman. On the CricketWeb podcast, I think I said there was an X factor about his batting. Its basically that nothing really stands out about him as a batsman, neither as strength nor as a weakness and in an age of overcoached or undercoached batsmen, seeing someone who is naturally comfortable playing off either foot and playing both vertical and horizontal bat shots was, to me, the "X factor."

 

[mr_mister]

I liked him the moment he got knocked on the head by Archer and bounced right back up

 

[Gob]

His stance and set up is different now to what it was 12 months ago tbh. Much more open stance

 

[honestbharani]

Changes for sure but rather more subtle compared to the likes of Bailey. Kohli has changed his set up a number of times over the years too. I just think there is an assurance about how well he judges length and how comfortable he is playing off either foot. That has not changed. Like I said, as long as he shows the mental strength required, he should do a lot more and become a very very good test batsman.

 

[vcs]

Thought his stance resembled Markram's a bit.

 

[stephen]

Just finding himself, trying to belong and become as good as Renshaw, Burns, Khawaja.

As QLD play the allrounder Wildermuth at 6 it basically meant at full strength it felt like Marnus was just trying to hold off Heazlett (who played ODIs for Oz) and Hemphrey.

I didnt notice anything poor about him but he certainly didnt scream Test Cricketer to me either. I guess he found ways to get out if the bowler was bowling well, i remember seeing him get bowled a few times and edged in the slips, dismissals where youd think Test bowlers would exploit.

It honestly just seems like County cricket has helped him and he has improved, its great to see and he just seems like a top guy.

Given how successful Queensland has been over the last few seasons due to the quality of their batsmen (especially when Lynn was available), it's unsurprising he hadn't stood out. Burns, Renshaw, Khawaja, Lynn, Heazlett, Humphrey and Wildermuth have all been jostling for first class batting spots over the last few years. And there's a couple of other youngsters on the fringes (Street and Bryant) who are quite promising as well. So he never stood out amongst them, averaging somewhere in the mid 30s.

I think part of it has to do with both the Gabba and AB Field decks being bowler friendly at shield level. Queensland batsmen often talk about getting the occasional unplayable ball playing at home.

 

[Spark]

His stance and set up is different now to what it was 12 months ago tbh. Much more open stance

There's either an article or something floating around somewhere about how Chris Rogers and others slightly adjusted his backlift to allow him to play straighter to, well, straight balls which really helps his one obvious potential vulnerability (big front pad)

 

[Red]

Would it be funny if the nature of cricket hits and in 12 months all these apologies get retracted.

Don't blow your loads yet gentlemen.

It's not so much blowing my load but admitting I was wrong. I was pretty critical of his initial selection and he (and the selectors) proved me wrong. If that changes it wont change the current scenario.

Would actually be interesting to know what the selectors based the initial selection on. I am guessing legspin played a big factor, but then his personality carried him a long way

 

[_Ed_]

 

[sphynx]

Average is now over 60 with 3 x 100's in succession at 25 years of age batting @ no.3 with an away Ashes thrown in there compiling that data.


Is he the new Rahul Dravid? His forward defensive position mimics the great mans a lot imo.

Looks to have a VERY complete game.

 

[NZTailender]

He's the new and improved Steve Smith, with 75% less sandpaper