Marnus Labuschagne

Every now and again, we are fortunate enough to come across a young man that plain and simply, has “it”. How you obtain “it” is often a mix of god-given talent but mostly pure hard work and focus, not many players come along with a work ethic and pure passion for the game like Marnus. A complete Cricket nut, he has a love for all things Cricket unlike many we’ve ever come across. A class top order batsman who can bowl some handy leg spin, Marnus Labuschagne made a somewhat of a shock Test debut for Australia against Pakistan on the 2018 tour of the UAE.

This was not a shock to those that had played with or against Marnus though. Long before his test debut and exploits of 2019, Marnus had come through the Queensland age group system, representing QLD at U17/U19 level before spending the 2013 & 2014 off seasons playing club cricket in the UK, taking the opportunity to keep developing his game before successfully pushing in to the QLD side on a regular basis.

His 2 UK stints prior to dominating for Glamorgan in 2019 were also as brutal. Spending 2013 with Plymouth CC, an 18 year old Marnus scored 974 runs @ 60.88 including 799 @ 61.46 in the league, he also chipped in with 28 wickets. 2014 saw Marnus take things up a gear, joining Sandwich Town CC in the ECB Kent Premier League. He would score an incredible 2132 runs @ 78.96 including 1049 in the league with a best of 203* against Canterbury CC.

Until his test debut, Marnus had perhaps been best known for his work as a substitute short leg fielder for Australia taking a superb catch off Nathan Lyon in the 2014 Brisbane Test against India. He made 83 on his Sheffield Shield debut for Queensland in 2014 and was the second leading run-scorer in the 2017-18 Sheffield Shield season scoring 795 runs at 39.75 with two centuries. That led to his selection on the 2018 Australia A tour of India and a subsequent selection in the squad for the two Test tour of the UAE.

Selected for the first Test, as much for his leg spin as his batting, he picked up eight wickets in the two Tests. Dropped for the start of the home India series he was recalled to bat at No.3 for the Sydney Test. Making 38 against India, he was shifted to No.4 in a new look line-up against Sri Lanka. He made a composed 81 in the pink-ball Test in Brisbane but missed out in Canberra.

Bizarrely not selected for the Australia A tour of England ahead of the 2019 Ashes, we found him an opportunity at Glamorgan. Wanting to tirelessly work on his game in the hope of an Ashes call up, he joined the Cardiff-based Glamorgan and made a century on debut against Northamptonshire. Marnus would go on to dominate for Glamorgan, being the first to 1,000 County Championship runs in 2019 before being called in as the first concussion substitute in Test Cricket History during the 2nd Test at Lord’s.

The rest they would normally say is history but we all know there is so much more to come…..