LONDON: Marnus Labuschagne opined that Joe Root's aggressive 'Bazball' approach is keeping Australia in the game as none of England's batters reached fifty in the second innings of the opening Ashes Test at the Edgbaston.
Australia are currently one up in the Ashes 2023 five-match Test series. Australia managed to hold on to the victory as England continued to play in their style throughout the course of five days.
The most visible evidence of England relinquishing control of the contest was Root's dismissal on day four. They had been barely ahead of the game since reaching almost 400 in 78 overs on the first day before declaring.
"From my perspective, him playing that method and those shots are keeping us in the game," Sydney Morning Herald quoted Labuschagne as saying after training at Lord's on Sunday before the second Test, which begins on Wednesday.
"I use that second inning as an example. He probably had an opportunity to shut us out and take the game away from us completely. But the method and the way he was playing kept us in the game and, evidently, he played an unbelievable inning, but he ended up getting 40 [46] and if he turns that 40 into 80-plus, we're chasing 300 and that's going to be a pretty big effort," Labuschagne said.
"So I think that's the benefit for us, the way they're playing. They're playing aggressive cricket, and he's doing it with a different method, which is great, but it brings in other opportunities for us. Hopefully, at some point in the series, that will keep paying off," the Australia No.3 batter said.
That score was based on Root's undefeated century, and he appeared to be on track for another in the second innings until he bizarrely rushed spinner Nathan Lyon and was stumped for the first time in his long and successful career.
Ten players in England's second innings reached double digits, three reached the 40s, but none hit a half-century, leaving Australia with a winnable target of 282.
Labuschagne believes Australia were below their best but still won.
"I really enjoy the way they play, I'm not going to lie. As a cricket watcher, watching the series prior, I loved it. I think it's exciting, it's entertaining, it's good to watch, but at the end of the day we played pretty under par to what I think the standard of our team is at," he said. "I thought from a batting point of view Uz [Usman Khawaja] was outstanding but I think most of the other batters, we want to be better than that standard," Labuschagne said.
England will play against Australia in the second Test match at the Lord's on Wednesday.