'He needs some big runs…': Andrew McDonald on Marnus Labuschagne

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In the first Test match against Bangladesh, Australia suffered a humiliating loss by nine wickets at the Marrara Stadium in the Darwin suburb of Marrara.

During the match, Australia’s batsman Marnus Labuschagne scored just one run in 20 balls in the side’s first innings, whereas in the hosts’ second innings, the right-handed batsman managed to accumulate 31 runs in 59 balls, with the help of two boundaries.

On his performance in the first Test match, Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald said that the batsman was moving well, but lacked in scoring big runs.

“We want runs is the bottom line. I think it was 31 he got in the second innings, and up until the point he got out, you’d sit there and say he was looking good,” he said as quoted by Cricinfo.

“He was moving well, he is clipping off his pads, he was getting back through the ball down the ground. So it’s easy for me to sit here and try to defend that, but ultimately it’s 31. It is not a big score. He has lacked runs. He feels that. We feel that. We are working incredibly hard as a coaching group,” added McDonald.

Ahead of the second Test match, the head coach said that the management is working on bringing the best out of Labuschagne.

“It is one thing to talk about the player. You have got to talk about coaching. We have got to get the best out of Marn as well. And we are working through that,” said the 45-year-old head coach.

Despite a decent performance, the head coach spoke highly of the changes that the South Africa-born cricketer has incorporated. Further, he said that Marnus Labuschagne needs some big runs.

“I think we saw some change in the way that he played, so that is good. So some of that work that he had done feels as though it is stuck under pressure, and that is always a hard part too. You can try to make these changes, and then when you get put under extreme pressure in the middle, sometimes those changes do not hold. So it was good to see them hold up,” he said.

“But it is 31. He’s disappointed of that missed opportunity. He needs some big runs,” the head coach concluded.

AUS vs BAN 2nd Test: Dates and venue

The second Test match between Australia and Bangladesh is scheduled to be played from August 22 at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in the Queensland city of Mackay.

(With ANI Inputs)

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