The Australia National Cricket Team is hosting the Bangladesh National Cricket Team for a two-match Test series. The Bangla Tigers are leading the series 0-1. During the ongoing second Test match at Mackay, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has pointed fingers at Marnus Labuschagne’s poor form in the traditional format. The latter has been struggling with form in recent times.
Australia came back strong in the second match after being outplayed in the first game. They bowled Najmul Hossain Shanto’s side for 64 runs, with Mitchell Starc dismantling the Bangladesh batting order. The home side have a lead of 101 runs at the end of Day 1, and their batting has also been under par in this series so far.
While speaking on Channel 7, Ricky Ponting has questioned the place of Marnus Labuschagne in the side; he loves the way the selectors are backing the Aussie batter to get him back to his best form, but things are not falling in place as the poor form has continued for long.
The former Aussie skipper said (as quoted by Cricinfo), "You know there's an opportunity to put a bit of pressure on the bowler and probably played a shot I didn't really need to at that time of the game," he added. "But it's a new opportunity this week and all those lessons learned last week hopefully we can put them into place."
"I admire what they [the selectors] are trying to do with Marnus," Ricky Ponting said on Channel 7. "I admire that they tried to get him and get him back to his best, but it's been way too long now."
"I would have made that change": Ricky Ponting on dropping Marnus Labuschagne
Ricky Ponting stated that he would have dropped Marnus Labuschagne even before this series, as he is nowhere near his best and would not make a comeback as well. There were enough low scores and reasons to drop him before the series.
Ponting said (as quoted by Cricinfo), "I'm on record as saying I would have made that change at the start of this series because I think there was enough evidence for me to suggest that he was a long way from rediscovering his best."
The former Aussie captain stated that the latter was unlucky with the way Marnus Labuschagne was dismissed, as he was out on the leg side and it struck his thigh pad before rattling into the stumps, but did not shy away from saying that he is struggling, as there have been some technical problems with his batting.
"He was unlucky today. There's no doubt about that," Ponting added. "But that tends to happen to you as well when you're struggling and you're trying to find some form and some rhythm. The worry that I had with him, I think there's some technical deficiency there but he's making the margin for error for the bowlers too great."
"With the length, he can't score off the back foot. If you can't score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game. So I well and truly think it's time to have a look at somebody else."
Marnus Labuschagne's recent form
In the first match, the 32-year-old batter scored 1 and 31 runs respectively. Coming to the second match, he was unlucky with the way he was dismissed for 4 runs off 8 deliveries.
Labuschagne last scored a Test century in July 2023 at Old Trafford and, since then, at the start of the 2023-24 season, his average has come down to 25.43, which is a warning sign as he has scored zero fifties (0 fifties) in his last 10 Test innings.
Ponting concluded, saying, "Don't get me wrong I'm not one for making panic change just because we lost last week. It wasn't about that. Guys that I played with they would tell you that I'd do everything I could to keep them in these players in my side. I didn't want to make change but when something stretches out as long as it has now and it's well over two years since he's made a Test match hundred."
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