Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne admitted that his team did not perform at their best in the Ashes opener against England, despite winning the match by two wickets.
“I don’t think we played our B-game. I think there’s a few guys that played exceptionally well. Usman (Khawaja) played really well, Nathan Lyon bowled exceptionally,” Labuschagne told SEN Cricket.
Labuschagne believes there is significant room for improvement as the series progresses. He praised individual performances but felt that the Australian pacers did not reach their usual standards.
“Potentially, the batters put us under a bit of pressure, but at the end of the day, the results are what matters, and we’ve come up with the chocolates despite having played a below-par game for this Australian cricket team.”
However, the team successfully chased a target of 280. Labuschagne acknowledged that England played well at times but emphasized that the result is what matters.
He expressed disappointment with his own performance and aims to rectify his shot selection in the upcoming games.
“I was pretty disappointed with those two dismissals to be honest. I think they were pretty poor in the sense that I haven’t got out like that for a very long time, sort of playing two poor shots very early in my innings. Hopefully, that’s a good lesson to learn there and making sure I make the right changes leading into this game,” Labuschagne said.
Looking ahead to the next match at Lord’s, Labuschagne hopes for a pitch with more pace, bounce, and seam movement, as opposed to the flat track in Edgbaston. He believes a livelier pitch will add excitement to the game and test players’ adaptability.
“Whatever wickets they dish up, I’m certainly happy to play on. I like wickets that have a bit more pace and bounce, and if that means a little bit more seam movement, that’s fine. But I think everyone would like to see the wicket with a little bit more life in it than the one at Edgbaston. The cricket was certainly still very entertaining, the ball spun a little bit and the way England played was certainly aggressive and attacking, which is good. But I think having the wicket dictate a little bit more how you have to play will be a bit more of an interesting thing to see.”
