Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne on Friday praised stand-in skipper Steve Smith’s leadership in the ongoing second Ashes Test against England Pat Cummins got ruled out due to a Covid-19 scare.
Smith took over and led from the front, scoring 93 runs as Australia took control for the match by posting 473 for 9 declared in their first innings.
“Steve has handled it very well, it’s not new to him. It’s nice to see him in that leadership role. From a team dynamic I don’t think anything has changed. It’s the first time he has captained me,” the top-order batsman said.
Labuschagne stole the show once again on Day 2 as he brought up his sixth Test hundred in the first session after resuming on his overnight score of 95. He became the first batsman to hit three hundreds in day-night Tests before he was dismissed lbw by Ollie Robinson in the 400th minute of his innings.
Labuschagne took his Test batting average to 62.48 which is second only to legendary Don Bradman’s benchmark of 99.94 among players who have batted in 20 innings or more.
He was dropped twice by England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler on 21 and 95 on the first day and Ollie Robinson bowled him off a no-ball before eventually trapping him lbw on Day 2.
Currently number two in the official rankings for test batsmen, Labuschagne dismissed the compliment as if it were an England bowler.
“It’s the first I’d heard of it. A couple of nick offs and you are right down the pecking order.
“I just think about scoring as many runs in each innings to try and win the game. Winning games for Australia is by far the most enjoyable part,” the South Africa-born Labuschagne said.
England in their reply, lost both the openers cheaply before bad weather brought the second day’s play to an early close at the Adelaide Oval with the score reading 17 for 2 in 8.4 overs. The tourists still trail the hosts by 456 runs with Joe Root (5*) and Dawid Malan (1*) at the crease.
