World Cup flashbacks as Marnus again proves Head's enabler

In the afterglow of Australia's ODI World Cup final turn-up over India, the two-year anniversary of which arrived two days before this week's Ashes series opener, Marnus Labuschagne attributed his part in it to divine intervention.

Having reunited with Travis Head to engineer another defeat that has left their opponents flummoxed, Labuschagne was once again struggling to comprehend the sequence of events that manifested him as the enabler of the Australia's maverick maestro.

England's obliteration of the hosts' top-order less than 24 hours earlier suddenly gave way to a battering roused by Head and unlocked by Labuschagne, with the duo's 117-run stand coming at better than seven-and-a-half runs per over.

They remain one of Australian cricket's most unlikely pairings. Head is the laid-back cult hero who wants to belt boundaries and play on instinct; Labuschagne is the frenetic nurdler always searching for gaps in the field and constantly reanalysing his technical and tactical approaches.

"Batting with Marn's, different, isn't it?" Head told reporters after his 123 fired Australia to their breathtaking eight-wicket win late on day two at Perth Stadium.

"He had plenty of energy. I was trying to play it pretty calmly, and just go about my work and he came out there and was up and about – 'Marn' does his thing.

"We try not to run each other out too much. I probably cost him a couple of runs where I sent him back, but he knows that I'm not too interested in quick singles. I thought he played really, really well."

Labuschagne endured through that 2023 tournament courtesy of a series of injuries and absences despite having fallen out of the team's plans only months earlier. After grimly holding on through to the decider, he and Head trumped the Jasprit Bumrah-led attack when they put on 192 under Ahmedabad's lights.

To win selection against England this week, it took five centuries for Queensland in seven weeks for the right-hander to win back the Test spot he admitted he deserved to lose earlier in the year.

Labuschagne, like the rest of the Australian top-order, had found England's rapid pace brigade a handful on the NRMA Insurance series’ first day. Opening the batting due to Usman Khawaja's back spasms, his 41 balls produced just nine runs before his late leave off Mark Wood deflected onto his stumps.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith, who put on 28 tortured runs in more than an hour with Labuschagne, later conceded the call to open with their recalled No.3 had been an error.

Enter Head, whose blistering second-innings opening burst with Jake Weatherald yielded 75 runs in just 69 balls by the time Labuschagne joined him at the crease.

"There was a lot of similarities between my partnership there with Travis in the World Cup final," Labuschagne told the ABC.

"They just felt the same. I had that same feeling he was going and everything was just hitting the gap or just sailing over and he was just hitting them so clean.

"I was just playing a part, he dragged me with him. … if he’s going, I’ll just keep hiding and trying to get off strike and be a bit busy."

As Labuschagne's recall appeared increasingly assured ahead of England's collision with Australia this summer, the more pertinent recent question has been whether Labuschagne should open the batting (as he did in his final match, June's World Test Champions final, before his axing) or return to three.

He ended up doing both. Speaking on the sidelines with Beau Webster, squeezed out by his return, Labuschagne noted the absurdity of the months of conjecture over the Test batting order.

"I thought it was comical," he told cricket.com.au. "Me and 'Slug' actually laughed … it's got to be a laughing point. After the whole winter, everyone goes 'is Marnus opening? Is he batting three? What are we doing?’

"He gets picked to bat at three in the (first) Test and then he opens the first innings. It's just a classic."

Where the Labuschagne-Head duo had come together under heavy pressure at the Narendra Modi Stadium with Australia 3-47 chasing 241, this time their side had already landed a blow on their opponents from which they never recovered.

Labuschagne appeared to profit from England's preoccupation with Head, backing away and flat-batting a series of bouncers to the long square boundaries. He levelled the scores with a towering six off Joe Root’s spin, a further sign the 'proactive' version of the former No.1 ranked Test batter was back and firing.

"Runs just give you the confidence to trust your game. When you don’t have runs, you feel like it’s a technical thing and there’s a few issues with your game, you just start making stupid mistakes," said Labuschagne, reflecting on his short-lived exclusion from the Test team.

"Errors that (come from when) you’re not reading the game well, you’re not playing the percentages. I feel like whenever I’m playing at my best, regardless of my technique, it’s the reading of the game, understanding where they’re going to bowl, where can I score, what changes I need to make.

"Over this 18 months I didn’t (do that). I was just in a bit of a spin, and I had to get dropped, I feel, to regain my focus and understanding of what was important to actually get runs, not getting too tangled with my technique.

"I think the access I have to the ground now has been better than I’ve ever had, the off side and leg side, cutting and pulling – I’ve got a lot more options. I don’t think I’ve ever had that, and the rest is just mental."

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia win by eight wickets

Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood