Wangers at the ready for Aussies' dethroned duo

Australia's coaching staff may want to fill out their overtime slips in advance.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith have tested the shoulders of many a throw-down giver over the years, such is the pair's feverish desire to fine-tune their batting techniques, adjust to conditions and prepare for individual bowlers.

But after their dethroning as the world's leading batting pair following rare double failures in the Ashes series opener, the duo's infamously long training sessions may become even longer.

Australia's skin-of-their-teeth victory at Edgbaston marked the first time they had won a Test with both Labuschagne and Smith being dismissed for under 20 in both innings.

Joe Root's masterful unbeaten 118 and a follow-up hand of 46 saw him go to the top of the ICC's Test batting rankings, sending Labuschagne (from first to third) and Smith (from second to sixth) out of the top two spots.

Australian players have been told to unwind for the start of their week-long break between the first and second Tests, with formal training to not resume until Sunday at Lord’s for those who played in the series-opening epic.

But support staff expect their 'wangers' (the name given to the plastic ball-throwing devices that allow balls to hurled at batters at great speed) will be back in use before then if Smith and Labuschagne get their way.

Image Id: 6A9A3231E2E14DCA930667E600CC27E2 Image Caption: Steve Smith with a ‘wanger’ // Getty

"There will be no doubt a craving for more net sessions from 'Marn' and 'Smudge'," head coach Andrew McDonald said before the Ashes tourists were bussed from the British midlands to London.

"They're disappointed they missed out in this game, but I think any time the Australian cricket team can win without those two performing at a high level is always a positive.

'We've got some areas we can improve, there's some growth within the team and there's two obvious ones.

"It's very rare that Marn and Smudge miss out in the same Test match.

"It's an appetising thought."

The kinks Labuschagne and Smith will be ironing out before the series resumes on Wednesday evening (AEST) will be varied.

But if there will be one unifying factor in their planning for the Lord’s Test, it will surely be how they plan to counter Stuart Broad after he accounted for three of the duo's four dismissals in Birmingham.

In both innings Broad got Labuschagne fishing well outside his off-stump to edge behind (off his first ball in the first innings and off his 15th in the second), while Smith exited in similar fashion in his second dig during an electric late-day-four spell from the veteran quick.

Smith's other dismissal was an lbw to Ben Stokes on day two when his exaggerated shuffle across the crease, reprised for this tour after relying on a more restrained movement during the most recent home summer, saw him parked in front of his stumps when a length ball kept slightly lower than previous deliveries.

Broad, who has developed an outswinger specifically to counter the threat of the two right-handers, had revealed after his rousing spell that accounted for both in the space of 13 balls on Monday that he believes sustained success against Smith and Labuschagne relies more on variation than consistency.

"They're fantastic players," Broad said on Monday. "I think one thing we know as a bowling group, you’ve got to try and put them under pressure early.

"They're the sort of guys, if they get to 30, 40, they don't give it away cheaply. So we know as a group that we want to try and make them play as much as we possibly can early.

"They’ve scored a lot of runs against us as a group so to see the back of them twice in this Test match without too much damage is awesome.

"Changing your delivery point on the crease, the way you deliver it from, which style of ball you're trying to bowl – I actually think that's quite a good thing to do, whereas a lot of batters you try and bowl the same ball over and over again to try and expose a weakness.

"I enjoy bowling at both of those (batters). I've had a lot of great battles, and they've probably won most of them."

It is certain both Labuschagne and Smith will now have a counter for Broad, and that none of the trio will rely on the exact same tactics they used in the first Test.

"I think there's always a curiosity to get better, so we're not going to stall that in any way," McDonald said of Smith and Labuschagne, who average 59.39 and 55.14 with the bat respectively.

"They'll come up with different plans, different movements.

"They've seen what England are going to do and how they're going to attack them, and they're probably two of the greatest problem-solvers we've had over a period of time so you would expect them to go back to the drawing board.

"And (batting coach) Michael di Venuto will be part of that process, and they'll come out pretty clear what they need to do next innings.

"But there's no issue there."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood