Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Marnus Labuschagne doesn't just love cricket, he looooooooves cricket. He might just love the game more than Steve Smith. How many Test players would FaceTime their grade cricket teammates while on an Ashes tour to discuss possible teams for a pre-season practice game? Is it normal for people to scan for items to "shadow bat" with while out for a walk? Who has the resourcefulness to make a cricket game out of boogie boards rested on camping chairs? Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Labuschagne, Australia's batting revelation this Ashes series, does all this – and more. He is the cricket tragic's cricket tragic. "He loves it more than anything," says Leigh Drennan, the captain of Labuschagne's grade club Redlands. Drennan has known Labschagne, 25, since the Test batsman was 13. He was MC at Labuschagne's wedding. He knows all the whacky games of cricket the 455th man to receive a baggy green has created. "He's a machine, he thinks of games on the run," Drennan says. "He walks around and finds instruments to shadow bat with. He can turn any scenario into a cricket game."


There's surfboard cricket, which Labuschagne created a few years back during the annual Easter holiday he and his friends take on Stradbroke Island. The pitch is made of two boogie boards resting shiny side up on camp chairs. Occasionally, a board is angled to create variable bounce. The stock ball is the one that rears off a good length. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "That's our classic camp game," says James Bazley, another Redlands teammate and the best man at Labuschagne's wedding. "He invented the game, we all manipulated it to get it where it is now." The object of the game is not to score runs, but survive for as long as possible. "The highest score was 28 balls," Drennan says. Garage cricket sounds more conventional but, as with most of Labuschagne's games, there has to be a left-field variation. It's played on a rubber mat with grooves using a tennis ball that is fully taped and has an additional seam just to increase the difficulty for batting. "They're ridiculously hard conditions," Drennan says. "People are getting out every fourth ball."


And corn cricket? He created that while cutting vegetables. A video of that went viral on social media in 2014 around the time he claimed a classic catch as 12th man in a Test against India. "I was cutting the corn, one of the pieces flicked out and went onto the floor," Bazley says. "He said 'do it again' and got into a catching position, and we filmed it." A common thread in every game he creates, his friends say, is the "ridiculous" level of difficulty, especially for batting. And he cannot lose.


"He's the most competitive person," Drennan says. "He got into really random stuff, like chess, just so he can beat people. We've had some ding-dong battles in table tennis because he wants to be a winner. "He can turn anything into a competition. When you watch him bat it looks like he refuses to be worse than anyone at anything, which makes him quite a different cat. He has no ability to play a game as a muck around – there has to be a prize on the line." Loading Which all goes a long way to explaining Labuschagne's performances since his extraordinary recall to the Test side as the game's first concussion substitute. A protege of respected batting coach Neil D'Costa, who was the late Phillip Hughes' long-time mentor, Labuschagne held off England on the last day of the second Test by making a fighting half-century, without which Australia would most likely have lost. Labuschagne is no fair weather cricketer. He showed his toughness second ball at Lord's, bouncing back to his feet after being struck flush on the grille of his helmet by a searing lifter from Jofra Archer. A week later, he again stood firm against Archer under lights while his teammates fell in a heap, then backed up in the second innings with another invaluable knock.


Courageous and skilful – just the way Justin Langer likes his Test cricketers. Tim Paine joked that he loves being hit. "A different kettle of fish," Paine says. Loading You can also add mentally tough. Few players can respond as cooly as Labuschagne did at Lord's. As a right-hand batsman who can bowl leg-spin, Labuschagne sensed an opportunity under the International Cricket Council's "like for like" replacement rules after Smith was struck by Archer on day four. Smith returned to the crease, but his condition deteriorated overnight. Next morning, Labuschagne was given the tap on the shoulder from Paine. He's in. "It wasn't until I got out there with the bat that it was surreal," Labuschagne recalls. "Now you're playing Ashes cricket. Prior to that I was only running the drinks."

Advertisement