New Spirit, Dubious Decisions And Lots of Marnus Labuschagne At Old Trafford
Labuschagne slammed his first century of Ashes 2023 (AP Photo)
With the Ashes retained and Australia having claimed what they always wanted to, and that too, significantly miles away from playing at home, what might England’s thoughts be at this time?
There are occasions where a draw doesn’t feel like one really; it feels more like a victory.
At this point, this draw may certainly feel like a win for Australia.
Wouldn’t you agree?
The sense of gladness at fighting back this time around at the back of the third Test’s defeat despite this draw being rain-assisted is certainly a sigh of relief for Pat Cummins and company.
With one more game to go, you could argue, Australia would fancy playing for a win and would feel confident having not lost another Test since Headingley.
But how do the Ben Stokes-led England feel at this time?
It ought to be said, surely England did well at the Old Trafford to never be on the back foot even once.
There wasn’t a single session where they were completely outplayed- were they?
But a big question remains.
When might the next chance to claim the Ashes turn into reality for the followers of the famous cricketing cult called the “Bazball?”
All that said, a question may arise against England with regards to the key decision they made pertaining to the timing of the draw.
It may, however, be one that may not find any sufficient explanation even if that means that this very decision may have altered England’s fate in the just concluded Test.
Interestingly, when Ben Stokes was asked about the timing of their second inning’s declaration, the premier all rounder of the sport, one with countless fans, surprisingly underplayed the call.
They had already gotten a lead of around 180 runs, but the team went ahead with the batters perhaps waiting for Jonny Bairstow to get to his century, which unfortunately didn’t happen.
In the end, the flamboyant and courageous English batter stayed put on 99 and it’s not hard to see, the right hander remained isolated as he ran out of company with the rest of the batters.
A brilliant inning that it was, maybe England could’ve timed the inning’s declaration at an earlier stage being especially in the know of things that weather had its own say in this Test.
How or why Ben Stokes underplayed the timing of the declaration despite being clearly aware that Australia ran away with the contest eventually courtesy the draw is something one will never quite know or understand too well.
But what’s evident and quite clearly too is the fact that the one batsman from the Australian contingent who allowed his team to dominate the contest and play level with England is Marnus Labuschagne.
Intriguingly, he’s the very batman who prior to his most recent and dogged hundred was clearly desperate for form and searching big runs.
Labuschagne’s vital inning, one that spanned 173 deliveries and came at a time where Australia really needed it, was clearly the big differentiator for his side.
Besides being a ton that came where none around the right hander came even close to a compiling a fifty, Smith, Khwaja, Warner included, Marnus Labuschagne found a way to defy the in-form and tireless duo of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.
The famed right hander from Australia has scored much bigger centuries, in terms of the statistical output of the three figure score, but that his most recent ton came in a match saving cause made the Old Trafford contest unforgettable for the Aussies.
Moreover, the century in the second innings came at the back of another hard fought and well compiled effort in the first; Labuschagne stayed out for no fewer than 115 deliveries to reach his 51.
On the whole, Marnus Labuschagne at the Old Trafford rediscovered the new fighting spirit.
And how?
His recent Ashes scores prior to the Old Trafford game read: 0 and 13, 47 and 30, and 21 and 33.
So it’s not that the determined top order bat didn’t get the starts, even as he had failed to convert any of those knocks into a big score.
Where it stands at the moment another defeat to England will make the series read 2-2 in the end with a game lost to draw.
So the series’ outcome still on the line as England will definitely want to end on some sort of a high by winning the fifth Test having conceded the Ashes to their opponents, Australia will once again rest on their charismatic batter to come to the party.
The key question will be whether Labuschagne too can end what’s been one heck of a test series, one of epic status, on a high having just fought his way back to the runs?
 "Dev Tyagi")
