DAVID WARNER REVEALS WHY HE'S 'STILL NOT CONVINCED' OVER MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE'S TEST FORM DESPITE HIS HALF-CENTURY IN ADELAIDE

• Marnus Labuschagne has been in the spotlight after Australia's defeat in Perth
• He returned in Adelaide to hit a half-century as his side secured a 10-wicket win
• Warner has claimed that Labuschagne is still not showing 'what he's capable of'  

David Warner has insisted Marnus Labuschagne is still a long way off his own standards, despite the Queensland batsman hitting a half-century in Adelaide.

The spotlight has been on the top-order batsman after he struggled to score runs during the first Test in Perth, hitting just five runs across both innings.

The 30-year-old, who hasn't scored a Test century since last year's Ashes series, has been working hard in the nets on his form between the first and second Test and appeared to show some promise that the tide was turning at the Adelaide Oval, hitting 64 in the first innings.

But Warner has criticised Labuschagne's 'awareness' and claimed that he continues to make the same mistakes before being dismissed.

'I'm still not convinced with Marnus,' Warner told The Daily Telegraph.

'I don't think that was anywhere near what we know he's capable of.

'He might have got a couple out of the middle, got a couple of freebies, batted well that night to get through but they bowled poorly.

'So from that perspective, he had the best conditions to come out and bat in.

'But he got out the same way he always does get out when he gets over 50, hits it straight to gully.

'So there's a lack of awareness there of what he's got to be mindful of. I don't think he's anywhere near where he should be.'

With 10 days between Tests, Labuschagne had plenty of time to make adjustments to his batting style, with the Aussie star taking an in-depth review into his own game.

'At the end of the Perth Test, I knew I wasn't moving into the ball well,' he said to Cricket.com.au. 'There were a lot of things I didn't like about how I played.

He claimed he had sought counsel from 'many people' in the wake of the Perth Test, including mentor Neil d'Costa and Aussie batting coach Michael di Venuto.

'It took all week really to try and work on different things, find out if that worked, and keep filtering through until I found out what I needed to," he said.

'The 10 days off was about trying to reconnect moving into the ball, lining the ball up nicely and finding out where I was missing the link there.

'I was hitting day after day for nine days straight, just finding a way to get back to where I wanted to be.'

He explained he changed his 'pre-ball set-up' in order to get a 'better alignment and getting my head pushing more forward'.

In his previous 10 Test appearances, Labuschagne has fallen in the 60s four times, only exceeding that tally once, during Australia's Test against New Zealand in Christchurch in March, where he hit 90 runs.

Questions have also been put towards Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja, who have also struggled to score for Australia. Smith's Test average sits at 23.2 while Khawaja's is currently 25.66. Both of those averages are lower than Labuschagne's 28.09 - yet Warner did not express any doubts over their form.

'Steve [Smith] of late, I think a lot of teams have been bowling at his pads and down leg side,' he continued.

'So I think from that perspective they’re trying to shut his scoring down quite a bit. You see he’s trying to tinker with fixing certain things with Bumrah.

'His feet weren’t moving across this time. We know what Steve’s like, one knock and then he’s there. But as we know, the best form of currency is runs so you’ve just got to try your best to churn them out,' Warner added.

'Uz [Khawaja], exactly the same. He’s had a great 12 months before.

'But then of late he hasn’t scored as many runs as he would have liked, but same thing, you’ve just got to go out there and still present the same attitude, the same at training, keep working hard.'

Labuschagne will return home to the Gabba this week and will hope to build upon that platform, as Australia and India go head-to-head again on December 14.

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2024-12-09T15:57:12Z