Marnus Labuschagne’s ceiling...

[sunilz]

So much posts for a guy who averages less than Mayank Agrawal
Both have similar sort of career. Excellent home season, 1 very good series overseas and 1 failure overseas.

 

[MrPrez]

Duane Olivier averages under 20 after 10 tests and while he clearly is a class bowler, he was never going to average that if he kept playing. He'd be lucky to average under 25 (I don't think he would have, ftr).

Same with Big Vern's original h4x - he now averages a shade under 25 with the ball.

Noone discounts that these guys are class bowlers but they were clearly having a good start to their careers - they were always bound to see their stats diminish.

Same with Marnus, who has been a stud, but will undoubtedly see his average plummet spectacularly.

Compared to Vern and Olivier, however, his domestic record doesn't imply a 50-+ test batsman at all - whereas it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that Olivier/Philander would average around the 25 mark in Tests from their FC records.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The key with him like many players will be how he does on a turning track away from home which is out of an Aussies comfort zone. The two matches against Pakistan in his debut series are far too small a sample to say he will fail or be a success so until he plays a few series in those conditions we won't know. Looks the business against pace though.

more than just the sample size it's more that he was a much different player then. He never showed any glimpse as being a guy who regularly averages 40+ in first-class cricket at that stage let alone someone who was Test standard. Wasn't until the next year he dominated county cricket out of nowhere and never looked back. Never seen a guy make such a drastic improvement within a year.

Agree with your overall point though. How he plays turning tracks will be a real test.

 

[OverratedSanity]

So much posts for a guy who averages less than Mayank Agrawal
Both have similar sort of career. Excellent home season, 1 very good series overseas and 1 failure overseas.

That's a fair point.

I do think marnus just looks better and more compact though. Mayank doesn't have a good horizontal bat game which might be exploited when more bowlers realize it.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

He never showed any glimpse as being a guy who regularly averages 40+ in first-class cricket at that stage.

There's only one slight problem there, he actually did average over 40 the previous season

 

[TheJediBrah]

There's only one slight problem there, he actually did average over 40 the previous season

so it's a bit of an exaggeration, relax mate. Point is he improved an insane amount.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

so it's a bit of an exaggeration, relax mate. Point is he improved an insane amount.

While he has definitely improved significantly, that post pretty much sums up exactly what I was talking about early, there is some blatant revisionism going on with his domestic record.

That post was always meant to be a general statement for the record, not aimed at anyone in particular

 

[TheJediBrah]

While he has definitely improved significantly, that post pretty much sums up exactly what I was talking about early, there is some blatant revisionism going on with his domestic record.

That post was always meant to be a general statement for the record, not aimed at anyone in particular

I wasn't really referring to his domestic record. I was saying how he looked as a player. The Marnus from 2018 in UAE looked unrecognisable in 2019 in England, at least for me.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Ehh fair enough, he has definitely evolved/improved with his technique. Also generally just looks a bit more proactive in a general sense

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Literally arguing semantics.

To HB, a left field pick is simply just someone who was picked despite not being an incumbent. Bumrah in tests might be another example of this. Few wanted him there but he surprised everyone.

Only a literal no-name being plucked out of street cricket a la Wasim is a left field pick up GAS.

Now shut the **** up.

The true definition of a left field pick was Fidel Edwards.

 

[Red]

not really. people underestimate how much it takes to end your career averaging over 50, probably because of the relative glut of the 00s.

the vast majority of batsmen who play test cricket, even the good ones, don't average 50. it's really hard to do especially if you bat higher up like he does. there's a long list of world class players who didn't quite manage it.

labuschagne is probably the most immediately impressive new batsman i saw play last year and i rate him but i'm yet to be convinced he's a 50 player.

I get the feeling he's Steve Waugh Mk 2 (who looks heaps like Stan McCabe).

Feel he might drop down the order to 4 or 5 once Pukovski and/or Patterson establish themselves in the side. And he'll avg about 50 there.

He just seems like the sort of guy who will get better and better when you watch him. His game is really simple and organised and he knows his strengths pretty well it seems.

 

[Red]

I dunno if I wanna make calls about how much he will end up averaging but is it a big call if I say I feel #3 may not be his long term batting position?


EDIT: Not that I think he will fail, but maybe he strikes more as #5 than #3 to me.

I read this after I made my post but it's nice to sort of agree on something with you...

 

[Red]

..

Of course, I would never have seen Smith being a 40-averaging batasman let alone his current state so I'm by no means saying Marnus can't be a 50+ averaging batsman.

I'm no judge of what will happen, and I am happy to admit it. I thought Smith would end up playing a Benaud style role, batting 6 or 7 or 8 and being the main spinner.

 

[honestbharani]

I read this after I made my post but it's nice to sort of agree on something with you...

We all have our differences here mate... And FWIW, while you have had your fits of what I would consider poor posting, I am sure I have had my share of what you would consider poor posts. Its all good. I always have the respect for you as a poster. I just hope you can find it in yourself to judge the cricketers and teams based on the cricket and not on a few posters who may get on your nerves here. I may not achieve it all the time, but I do try that here myself.

Plus we will always be cricket fans, so there is that in common anyways.

 

[CricAddict]

The true definition of a left field pick was Fidel Edwards.

Nice cute one. Think not getting some deserved likes.

 

[CricAddict]

The true definition of a left field pick was Fidel Edwards.

Nice cute one. Think not getting some deserved likes.

 

[Kraken]

I'm curious, why do a fair amount of people on here think Marnus is more a #5 than a #3? Is it his looseness wide outside off stump, leading to him continually slicing attempted drives through 4/5th slip?

 

[NUFAN]

People think he is a 5. He has 3 nailed.

Btw, the answer to the thread title I believe is barrel-shaped.

 

[honestbharani]

I'm curious, why do a fair amount of people on here think Marnus is more a #5 than a #3? Is it his looseness wide outside off stump, leading to him continually slicing attempted drives through 4/5th slip?

Well, the simple answer is he looks more a middle order bat than a top order bat. I would have said 4, but how is he gonna get ahead of Steve Smith?

 

[Kraken]

Well, the simple answer is he looks more a middle order bat than a top order bat. I would have said 4, but how is he gonna get ahead of Steve Smith?

Okay, why do you think that he looks more like a middle order bat than a top order bat? I think he's a 3 through and through now