Labuschagne and co plot counter to Broad slide

In the 13 Test innings prior to the opening Ashes Test that he'd faced Stuart Broad, Marnus Labuschagne had safely negotiated all-but one of the 262 deliveries flung at him by England's veteran seamer, scoring 119 runs with a false stroke rate of just 17.2 per cent.

It's a lower ratio of mishits against Broad – Test cricket's second-most successful pace bowler with 588 wickets – than even Labuschagne's Australia teammate and fellow batting obsessive, Steve Smith.

Furthermore, the aberration in that career record stretching back to Lord's 2019 – when Labuschagne made his famous Ashes debut as concussion substitute for Smith – came last year when the right-hander fell face-first on the Hobart pitch having stepped so far across his stumps that Broad bowled him behind his legs.

It's therefore understandable that Labuschagne – until last week, the top-ranked Test batter in the world – isn't reading too much into his dual failure in the current series opener at Edgbaston where he lost his wicket twice to Broad in the space of five deliveries across two innings without scoring a run.

But it hasn't stopped the 28-year-old from undertaking some serious tinkering with his technique in the nets upon his return to Lord's where the second Test begins on Wednesday.

And he has no shortage of expert advice to call upon to fix the glitch, which saw him again getting so far across his stumps in a bid to negate Broad's newly-honed outswinger he twice needlessly nicked off to England keeper Jonny Bairstow.

In addition to input from Australia batting coach Michael Di Venuto (who noted Labuschagne might benefit from "leaving a couple of balls on 12th stump line") and his Sydney-based batting mentor Neil D'Costa, ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting was at Sunday's training session watching closely.

While Ponting has offered his expertise to help iron out the issue that saw Australia's incumbent No.3 record his first golden duck in Tests and his first failure to reach 25 in either innings of a Test since before that Lord's reintroduction in 2019, Labuschagne is yet to formally seek that input.

However, Labuschagne did discuss his set-up at the crease and where in relation to the stumps he was taking guard with Ponting, who watched an hour of Australia's training session at Lord's Nursery from behind the nets.

"They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I've usually played," Labuschagne said today of his dismissals at Edgbaston, confirming that he's backing himself to find the answer.

"That's why I was pretty frustrated with myself to get out that way and asked myself the question, 'why did I play at those deliveries?'.

"I've come up with my own summation of what that is.

"Now it's if there's anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"It's a rarity that I'd play at those balls, so it's not something I'm going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals."

While he might not have yet sought his counsel, that assessment squares with what Ponting saw from the television commentary eyrie at Edgbaston as well as the preceding week's World Test Championship Final against India.

And it would doubtless form the basis of his critique should the pair meet for a chat in coming days.

"What I've seen over the last couple of weeks … I think he's over-complicating things a little bit," Ponting told the ICC Review last weekend.

"I think he has to trust and believe in what's made him the number two-ranked Test batsman in the world for the last couple of years and go back to trusting that.

"I would actually tell him to go and watch some footage and watch some video of when he's actually played his best, and remember those things and go and do that all over again."

Labuschagne has some ideas as to why he played at those deliveries he might have let safely pass, against a bowler from whom he's encountered comparatively few difficulties in the past – his false stroke ratio coming into this series was significantly higher against Broad's new-ball partner James Anderson (20.9 per cent).

He cited the slow nature of the Edgbaston pitch from day one, and its accompanying lack of bounce that "sucked (him) in" to feeling he could hit the ball with greater safety, but then made the mistake of aiming those strokes at deliveries pitched well outside the stumps.

However, he's not reading anything into the fact Broad was the bowler on both occasions, with the canny England quick having previously flagged he's been perfecting an outswinger specifically to find the outside edges of Labuschagne and Smith's bats during this series.

Despite the freakish manner in which Broad knocked him over at Blundstone Arena in the final match of the 2021-22 Ashes campaign, Labuschagne claimed he couldn't recall ever conceding his wicket to his rival who turned 37 last Friday.

Perhaps that's because he has selectively adopted Broad's tongue-in-cheek suggestion that series should be rendered 'void' because it was played against the backdrop of COVID-19 restrictions.

Or, as Labuschagne acknowledges, he simply copped a well-executed ball upon getting to the crease on day one and played an unnecessary shot to the 15th delivery he faced in the second innings, both of which just happened to come from the same bowler.

What Labuschagne is prepared to accept about Broad and the effect of the outswinger he's been working on in the months leading into the Ashes, is that to date the honours clearly lie with the England quick.

"He's 2 and 0 now, so he's done his homework," Labuschagne said of Broad's double-strike against him at Edgbaston.

"That first (and only) ball I got in the first innings was a very nice ball.

"I haven't faced Stuart Broad where he's really been able to swing it away. He usually angles in, and that one definitely swung.

"First ball, most of the time you just play and miss at that then you go 'OK', you can make the adjustments out there.

"I said this about (India spinner) Ravi Ashwin, guys who take the time to do the homework, understand the game, and work out how they're going to get certain guys out, I've got so much respect for them.

"So if they're putting the time and effort in and it pays off, that's a credit to them."

Above all, Labuschagne revels in the challenge that comes with having to counter plans as carefully crafted and expertly executed as Broad's in the opening Test.

As he pointed out, from the time he walked out to bat as a no-name replacement player at Lord's with the second Test of the 2019 series on the line, his technique, his strengths and his weaknesses have been picked apart by opposing bowlers and tacticians.

And as he showed during Sunday's nets session, as he worked on countering the trap sprung twice by Broad at Edgbaston, he's not about to be caught flat-footed in his response.

"It's something I've done my whole career, where I always think about my game," Labuschagne said.

"I've tried to make my game as adaptable as possible, so I don't have one way of batting.

"Some people play their whole career and bat one certain way and have one method that works, and they go through the rollercoaster.

"Overall it's a very good method (but) my best method is to use my knowledge of the game, understand my game, understand the way my body moves and the way I can score and try to use that to the best of my advantage."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood