‘It’s well and truly time to look at somebody else’: Ponting calls for Labuschagne’s removal

Mackay, Aug 22 (SocialNews.XYZ) Scrutiny over Australia's top-order batting grew more on Saturday when it failed to inspire another strong start during the ongoing second Test match against Bangladesh at Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay.

On a day which was highlighted by epic fast bowling spells from Mitchell Starc and Shoriful Islam, the Aussie top-order batters once again came in the firing line despite the hosts taking a 101-run lead and still having two wickets in hand after bowling the Tigers out for 64.

Yet another underwhelming performance from Marnus Labuschagne has invited a change call from former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who asked for his removal after the No.3 scored four before getting knocked off by Shoriful on a ball that brushed off his pad to the stumps. The outing stretched the declining performances of Labuschagne, who is yet to score a fifty in his last 10 innings and a century since the Ashes 2023.

"I admire what they're (selectors) trying to do to get him back to his best," Ponting said on Seven of Labuschagne. "But it's been way too long now. I would have made the change at the start of this series.

"There's some technical deficiency there, but he's making the margin for error for the bowlers too great. He can't score off the back foot, and if you can't score off the back foot in Test cricket, batting becomes a hard game. Bowlers now know they can bowl anywhere from 10 metres to four metres on off stump and as wide as they want, and he can't hurt them. It's well and truly time to have a look at somebody else."

Ponting had previously advocated injecting youngsters into the top-batting order after Australia's disastrous loss to the Tigers in the first Test in Darwin. Ponting stated that he would be the last one to call for a change, but looking at the performance, he thinks it is inevitable. "Look, I'm the last one I want to make a change. As a captain or as a player, I wanted to keep the group together. It has to get to a bad point before I start saying you ought to leave somebody out. But there had been enough evidence for me coming here to suggest that they weren't going to lose anything or much at all by starting that regeneration, by maybe bringing in another opener, by maybe bringing in someone at No.3. I think that that has to happen," he told Channel 7 earlier.

In the aftermath of the Darwin debacle, Australia brought back Matt Renshaw in place of the struggling opener Jake Weatherland after three years, but the Southpaw only managed eight, while Travis Head scored 22. Head was a revelation at the top of the order against England and would want to score more runs after going fifty-less in the last four innings.

Australia ended the day at 165/8 with Cameron Green holding fort with an unbeaten 51, while Nathan Lyon remained unscathed on 10 as Shoriful backed Starc's six-wicket haul with his own six-fer. Australia are 101 runs ahead and eye a win, but the top order calls for an intense look as Australia have to travel to South Africa for a three-match Test series later this year.

Source: IANS