'Worth a hundred' but Marnus's MCG wait continues

It will come as cold comfort to Marnus Labuschagne given his quest for a Test hundred on Australia cricket's biggest stage remains unfulfilled, but his captain rates the match-high 63 he scored on Boxing Day and beyond as the equivalent of triple figures.

Faced with an MCG pitch that has seen 16 wickets fall across two days with a majority caught behind the wicket, and having batted through an oncoming storm in failing light on Tuesday afternoon, Labuschagne's four-hour stay in which he faced 155 balls shone like a beacon.

Not only has the 29-year-old spent longer at the crease and survived more deliveries than any other batter across either team in the Test to date, Australia captain Pat Cummins believes his side would not be holding the strong advantage they take into day three with Labuschagne's contribution.

"It was really tough, even the outfield's not very quick here so 300 is probably worth at least 400," Cummins said after Australia were bowled out for 318 and reduced Pakistan to 6-194 in a rampant final session with the ball on day two.

"The way he left and bided his time on day one I thought was really impressive, it got us to an overnight total when we were only three-down.

"And then to keep going this morning … he didn't miss out when the ball was in his area and just his discipline to face 150 or 200 balls and guts it out was really important.

"His 60-odd today was probably worth a hundred in the context of the game."

However, the non-nuanced reality of cricket's clinical statistics will show that despite the dominance he has wielded at Australia's other marquee Test venues since making his Test debut in 2018, Labuschagne's record at its biggest ground and on its pre-eminent day remains an outlier.

As the right-hander so clearly displayed as he dragged himself from the centre at glacial pace upon edging to slip two deliveries before the second new ball became due this morning, "worth a hundred" isn't captured in the centuries column of career achievements.

The reasons why Labuschagne's Test output at the MCG is so sharply at odds with stadia in other mainland capitals is not immediately or identifiably clear.

Unlike a number of his more seasoned Test teammates, Labuschagne did not enjoy the benefits of batting at the MCG when it offered bountiful runs and little other than dyspepsia for bowlers.

It was in the wake of the eye-glazing drawn Ashes Test of 2017-18 – the summer before Labuschagne earned his Baggy Green Cap – that the historic venue responded to its 'poor' pitch rating by the ICC by enlivening the moribund surface.

However, as David Warner (200 last year), India duo Ajinkya Rahane (112 in 2020) and Cheteshwar Pujara (106 in 2018), and Travis Head (114) and Tom Blundell (121) in the 2019 Australia-New Zealand clash have shown, scoring has hardly become prohibitive on the reinvigorated drop-ins.

Perhaps Labuschagne's comparative struggles at Test cricket's birthplace are rendered more stark by the remarkable success he's enjoyed at the nation's other major mainland venues.

At Adelaide, only Lindsay Hassett (128), Don Bradman (108) and Michael Clarke (94) average better than Labuschagne's 80.4 among players to have scored 500 runs or more there.

On his home track at the Gabba in Brisbane, where he averages 81.5 in eight Test innings, he sits below only Greg Chappell (112), Bradman (105), Clarke (103), Doug Walters (85) and Michael Slater (84) using the same criteria.

And at the SCG, his current average of 76.5 is bettered only by England's Wally Hammond (161.6), India's Sachin Tendulkar (157), current Australia teammate Usman Khawaja (130.8), Michael Hussey (94) and India's V.V.S Laxman (76.1).

Yet his returns at the MCG (236 runs at 33.7) suggest he finds that ground as challenging as Test venues beyond Australia, given he averages 37.6 in matches played overseas compared to the 67 he enjoys on home turf.

As he revealed prior to resuming his innings today on 44 not out – scored over three hours at the wicket, in the most challenging the game has witnessed thus far – batting was more difficult in this Test than his previous four in which his highest score was also 63, against New Zealand in 2019.

"When I got out there, it was certainly tricky, the ball was nipping and I thought Shaheen (Shah Afridi, Pakistan's spearhead) got his tail up a little bit and bowled some really nice balls," Labuschagne told radio station SEN.

"It was tough batting. When the weather came in … I went into lockdown mode and just thought 'minimise the risk' and then try and build when we come back out."

Perhaps nothing more graphically illustrates the challenges Labuschagne has found with Test match batting at the MCG than that maiden innings, which he seemed destined to overtake today until he copped a cracking delivery from Aamir Jamal.

In that summer of 2019-20, having been famously recalled to the Test team as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith during the preceding Ashes campaign in the UK, he peeled off scores of 185 and 162 against Pakistan in Brisbane and Adelaide, followed by 143 against NZ in Perth.

But come Boxing Day, his 63 (bowled by seamer Colin de Grandhomme shortly before tea) was followed by 19 (run out) in the second innings, then scores of 48 and 28 (India), 1 (England) and 14 (South Africa) in subsequent Test visits to Melbourne.

Just as the MCG has undergone a noticeable change in character since it's dire rating six years ago, so too does Labuschagne concede he might sometimes need to adopt a different approach and park his quest for technical excellence when conditions dictate simply batting ugly.

"Some days it hurts to be the perfectionist, you just have to let it go and play with what you've got," Labuschagne said prior to play resuming this morning.

"That's probably a good lesson for everyone – you can't always get it all perfect, you've got to find a way to score runs and contribute.

"It's not always pretty and Smudge (teammate Steve Smith) and I said that after we went (off for rain yesterday).

"I actually went to the (indoor) nets and had a hit because I said I was hitting them like a spud out there.

"It just felt like the timing wasn't right but that's the nature of the conditions – a bit overhead, they had the ball swinging and nipping off the surface and we just had to grind and find a way through it.

"They're sometimes the most satisfying innings, when you're not playing at your best and you're not hitting the ball as well as you could.

"But you just have to find a way to stay out there and find a way to score runs."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (10.30am AEDT)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi