Australian Marnus Labuschagne shared a video on Twitter in which he is seen playing in his backyard, mimicking a surface akin to spin-driendly pitches in the subcontinent. Labuschange will soon be on the run to Pakistan, where Australia will be playing a Test series after more than two decades. The video shows a rubber mat with aluminum and metal plates glued to it, which is cut into pieces to mimic the cracks that appear on the subcontinental fields during the game. “Originally I had bigger sheets there,” Labuschagne told reporters in Brisbane on Monday. Labuschagne also revealed his chat with Steve Smith and his input that proved valuable in recreating such a pitch.
“Then I was actually on the phone with Steve and he was like ‘No, no, no, that’s not right’. You really have to cut the pieces up so that they’re small pieces so you can’t really predict on everything the wicket going to do,” he added.
“So I cut them into smaller pieces, laid them around and tried to align it so that if someone hit the aluminum or the metal it would slip and hit the stumps… then someone would spin,” said he.
Annnd the battle video pic.twitter.com/6IQpqyvlsC
— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 17, 2022
“One of the big factors when you go to England is that the ball hits the stumps of a shorter length,” said Labuschagne.
“It’s kind of the same, going to Pakistan. I thought, ‘What’s the best way to recreate spin?’ But not just consistent spin, because I think that’s pretty easy to recreate – you get a mat – but inconsistent (spin) so some spin, some slide,” Labuschagne explained.
At the end of the video, Labuschagne brought out the “fun” factor associated with such a scenario going well, along with some serious training.
“It’s always fun – you get some guys around and you play in the backyard. So it’s fun and educational. It’s a really exciting challenge to go there,” said Labuschagne.
Australia will play three Test, three ODIs and a single T20I between March 4 and April 5.
Selections for the Australian tour of Pakistan:
promoted
Pakistani squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc) , Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. Standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Renshaw
Topics mentioned in this article
