Labuschagne has come under intense scrutiny following the defeat given his recent form in Test cricket. He has averaged just 13.66 in his last 10 Test innings, which includes a nine-month gap in which he played county cricket, Sheffield Shield cricket and ODI cricket. Your scores on those entries read: 10, 1*, 3, 5, 1, 2, 90, 6, 2, and 3.
In the second innings, it was Bumrah who caught him, as he tried to shoulder a player who was breaking stump at the end of the day.
While India will play a two-day pink-ball match in Canberra against the Prime Minister’s XI next weekend, Australia’s players will fly home and train alone for the rest of this week. They will not be playing club cricket in their home states, as is the norm, but have decided to head to Adelaide a day earlier than initially planned.
“Marn, along with quite a few guys on the team, didn’t have the week we would have wanted,” Cummins said after the loss four days from now. “It’s no secret how hard batsmen, particularly Marn, work in the nets. He’s always trying to find those little marginal gains. “There will be a lot of conversation with the coaches this week about his approach and what he could be doing differently.
“We know he is a class player, his prime is one of the scariest propositions for opposition bowlers. “We will get to Adelaide a little early and maybe do another day or two of preparation before that second Test He’s done it before there, he has a very good record, so I always think that looking back and remembering past successes when you were in your prime is always a very good way to get back on track.
“This is a sample size of one. Four or five days ago we thought this was our best XI. So I dare say there won’t be many changes in Adelaide, but I’m not a selector. I’m sure we’ll meet later of the game. We have a little bit of work to do over the next 10 days.”
It could lead to an extraordinary scenario in Adelaide, where the victors in Perth make more changes than the defeated team. India will welcome captain Rohit Sharma back from paternity leave, while Shubman Gill will also push for fitness. Australia could return to the same XI despite the margin of defeat.
You sit in the locker room after a loss like that and it hurts. When a team attacks you, it’s never a surprising feeling. We’ve all been in these situations before.
Pat Cummins
But while Marsh looked in good touch with the bat, his fitness is a major concern with the ball. He is hurting after bowling just 17 overs, the most he has bowled in any game of cricket in the last three years. He bowled an excellent spell on day one, but his overs on days two and three were plodding and put pressure on Australia’s fast bowlers to carry the load. He will be monitored for the next 10 days.
“He’s battling a couple of little hiccups since the UK tour,” Cummins said. “The main thing is that he is there as one of the top six batsmen in the country and bowling is an advantage. He was a bit sore towards the end of this Test match. Again, in the next 10 days, he will get a chance to cool down. “Get up and try to do it right. We’ll see how it goes. “Ideally, I would be able to bowl in every Test match.”
Cummins was typically pragmatic after just the second home defeat of his career as captain, although he came in back-to-back matches after the narrow eight-run loss to the West Indies in Brisbane. But I was aware that there would be a lot of introspection in Adelaide to try and find a way back into the series.
“You sit in the locker room after a loss like that and it hurts,” Cummins said. “When a team attacks you, it’s never a surprising feeling. We’ve all been in these situations before. It’s the nature of professional sports, you’re going to lose some games.
“The most important thing is how do you recover? What is your next step? That’s what we have to do this week. We were clearly very out of position. There is a lot to work on. The most important thing is that there are four Matches of test to come.”
Alex Malcolm is associate editor of ESPNcricinfo
