On the fourth morning of the Manchester Ashes Test, it wasn’t clear what the job was. Rain was still falling after coming down all night. The ground was drenched. Four wickets and 162 down in the match, Australia might not have been required to bat again all weekend. They might have got on at lunchtime and had the rest of the day. Or they might have faced what they eventually did, something in between. Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green and Alex Carey were the principal four with that clouded task ahead.
Around 90 minutes after the scheduled start, Labuschagne arrived, appearing between two of the stands on the eastern side of the ground and trekking across the wet grass towards the dressing room. Tiny with distance, hunched against the rain, rugged up in the warmer range of the team training uniform, his officially mandated woollen bobble hat gave him the look of a Santa’s workshop elf. The large cardboard box clasped to his chest might as well have been inscribed with giant letters saying “RUNS”.
Labuschagne’s visit to England has been frustrating, even more for him than those watching on. His origin story involving this country is well known: the concussion sub from 2019 who seemingly sprouted from nowhere and thrived in the high pH of the Ashes. He didn’t make hundreds but he did make defining fifties: a match-saving 59 at Lord’s, 74 and 80 when Australia should have won in Leeds, 67 when they did at Old Trafford. The hundreds began coming right afterwards.
Four years later, then, he expected bigger and better things from an England tour. Instead he has been mired firmly in the middle: 26 and 41 against India at The Oval, 47 and 30 at Lord’s, 21 and 33 in the loss at Headingley when an extra 50 could have made all the difference. Enough runs to suggest he can do the job but not enough runs to complete one.
So to the task at hand. On being told that play would resume at 2:45pm local time, it would have been tricky to decide on a mindset, scoring versus survival. What Labuschagne did know was that he was resuming on 44, with Marsh in fine touch.
Initially it was all about resisting Mark Wood, making sure that England’s rocket man didn’t get an opening to let him blow away the batting to come. Labuschagne faced 15 balls of Wood’s four-over spell, including a full over dodging short balls. He was still on to it when the ball was pitched up, collecting seven runs.
That done, the batting pair played like normal. The running was sharp, Labuschagne hustling a third. There was occasional attack, such as Marsh going large over the leg-side. England tried patience, Stuart Broad bowling outside off-stump with a ring field, then got bored and had Jimmy Anderson move to subcontinent fields in front of the batter, and Broad to bouncer theory.
Labuschagne stayed serene, moving from 44 to 75. When Wood tried to return, the umpires ruled that the light would allow only slower bowling. England forged on with Moeen Ali and Joe Root, Labuschagne took on the spin with the field up to twice hit straight for six.
It was about trying to keep a sense of normality. The situation was cat and mouse, neither side knowing how many more overs the weather would allow. The batters avoided the suffocation of stonewalling. Australia’s deficit kept coming down, towards double figures, adding complexity to England’s calculations.
When Root slipped in a surprise outswinger from his short run, an edge flew past the face of a crouching Zak Crawley at slip, staying low for the spin he had expected. It was the fortune Labuschagne needed, taking him to 97, and soon he had his hundred. It didn’t prompt the style of triumphant, roaring celebration – had Jonny Bairstow scored one more run than his 99 not out the day before, you got the sense he would have torn his shirt from his chest and ripped his vocal cords. With Australia still in a chastening spot in the match, Labuschagne’s salute was understated, in theme with the acknowledgment that came from only part of the crowd.
His day ended on 111, reward for England persisting with spin. Volume of deliveries was what they needed, knowing eventually a wicket must come. Labuschagne’s cut, edged off Root, was the kind of shot that he tried to stop playing while still halfway through, but too late. His walk off the ground was a little less slow than usual.
He won’t yet know what to make of the innings, what it means. He saw off the toughest early overs and helped his team through the fourth day losing only one wicket. If the fifth day is a washout, or has minimal play, that will be enough. If there are sessions yet to play, his presence was still needed. The job of saving the match is both close and distant. There is one Sunday to go. Labuschagne’s part is done. Again it will be Marsh, Green, Carey, arriving at the ground, unclear what the job is to be done.
