Marnus Labuschagne's 3 best Test knocks vs England
Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne brought his A-game at just the right moment for his team in Ashes 2023. After scoring just one half-century in the past 16 innings and none in the series, he notched up a 51 (115) and 111 (173) at Old Trafford to keep Australia afloat in the fourth Test.
Australia will start Day 5 (which is delayed due to rain) at 214/5. More than half of these runs have been scored by Labuschagne, with Mitchell Marsh with his overnight score of 31 being the second-highest run-scorer. Whether or not the visitors manage to save this game, it will be regarded as one of the best in Ashes' history.
This was the 29-year-old's highest score and second century against England, taking his overall tally to 994 runs in 13 matches since he played his first game against them as Steve Smith's concussion substitute at Lord's in 2019.
Here's a look at his three other best knocks:
#3 59 at Lord's in 2019
Marnus Labuschagne had the most atypical of debuts. Steve Smith was hit on the head by a vicious Jofra Archer bouncer in the first innings and suffered a concussion.
The rule that players can be subbed off for a concussion suffered during the match came into force just before the series and Labuschagne became the first to use it.
Australia needed 267 to win on the final day but whatever hopes they would have had of winning were quickly shut when Archer got both David Warner and Usman Khawaja out for just 19 on the board. Labuschagne came in and Archer hit him on the helmet, right in front of his eyes, on the first ball.
To get that out of his mind and face 99 more deliveries to hit 59, including eight boundaries, on a pitch where the ball was turning and keeping low was just exceptional batting.
Labuschagne got out to a slightly controversial catch but the time he spent and his 95-run stand with Travis Head helped Australia escape with a draw.
#2 103 at Adelaide in 2021 - Labuschagne's first hundred vs England
Unlike his usual big scores, Labuschagne's first hundred against England in 2021 at the Adelaide Oval was a combination of attrition and luck. It was a pink-ball Test and England set the tone early by hitting him on the body a few times at the start.
Then, if you count half-chances and easy dropped catches, he got five reprives on the first day at - 10 (46), 17 (84), 21 (89), 45 (152), and 95 (259). Labuschagne kept on using that luck, playing the seaming pink ball on merit and picking up boundaries against the half-volleys and the short-and-wide ones.
He got his century off an edge on the second day on his 287th ball and the celebration, almost throwing the bat with his arms stretched wide, said it all. Labuschagne got out for 103 but Australia scored 473 and eventually won the Test by 275 runs.
#1 74 at Headingley in 2019
Steve Smith had to sit out in the next Test of the 2019 Ashes at Headingley but Australia had a ready replacement available in Marnus Labuschagne. However, the pitch was much, much more difficult than the one at Lord's. It was seaming and swinging like it hadn't in England in a long time in addition to the bounce Jofra Archer got.
Batting first, Australia were all-out for just 179. 74 of those runs came from Labuschagne's bat as the right-handed batter showed unbelievable technique against pace by always playing late and in balance plus an ability to leave the balls constantly while being busy in his running between the wickets.
As it happened his 74 (he got out off a full toss against Stuart Broad) was not only the highest score in the first innings but also 11 more than what England collected together in the second innings - 63/10.
Labuschagne top-scored again with 80 (187) in the second innings and England eventually won because of Ben Stokes' much-talked-about heroics. But the pitch was only getting better to bat on as the match progressed. Scoring 74 on the first day with multiple rain breaks was a masterclass in patience against pace.