After having trouble in the first Ashes test, Marnus Labuschagne claimed he holds himself to a “higher standard” and is hoping to regain his best form in time for the second game at Lord’s.
Marnus Labuschagne lost his position as the top-ranked test player in the world to England’s Joe Root after scoring 13 runs in the second innings after going for a golden duck in the first.
At Edgbaston, Australia prevailed by two wickets following a thrilling five-day match.
“They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I’ve usually played,” Labuschagne said. “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.”
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting backed Labuschagne to return to his best.
“I think he’s over complicating things a little bit,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“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.”
The second test starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.