Marnus Labuschagne Reveals Mental Battle: Why Trying to Be Perfect Hurt His Form

Labuschagne, who was dropped from the ODI series against India initially, was added back in the squad after injury to all-rounder Cameron Green. After months of failures in Tests, where his final century came in 2023, which also included a poor outing as an opener during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa, Labuschagne did not feature in the Test tour of the West Indies despite being a part of the team.

However, he has turned things around in domestic cricket, managing four centuries across his last six innings, two each in the Sheffield Shield and the One-Day Cup. His last outing was knocks of 159 and 18 for Queensland against South Australia. He has crossed the 150-run mark twice and has been averaging 95.66.

"It is always nice when you're scoring runs," Labuschagne told Fox Cricket during Sunday's first ODI in Perth.

"The only thing I really wanted coming into this summer -- take everything out, selections, everything else -- I just wanted to be back playing cricket the way I want to be playing, playing with that freedom.

"It is nice to have come out and started the way I have," he concluded his point.

Labuschagne admitted that coming into the summer, "runs were going to be the currency".

"That was probably the focus point. It does not matter how you score them or what it looks like; find a way to keep scoring runs. Since then, my technique moulded into whatever the game needs," he added.

Labuschagne is without a century in his past 49 international matches, having scored just 12 fifties in 57 innings at an average of less than 30.

His form has been even worse in red-ball cricket, with his last Test century coming against England back in July 2023. Since then, he has been able to muster just 668 runs in 16 matches and 30 innings at an average of 24.74, with seven fifties and a best score of 90. While he was selected for the West Indies tour this year for the Test matches, he did not get to play a single match.

With the first ball of the home Ashes to be bowled on November 21 at Perth, Labuschagne would be aiming to continue with his domestic grind, score a truckload of runs to earn back his place in the team.

The 31-year-old confessed to battling some "mental" demons over the last couple of years and trying to be "too perfect".

"There is a few technical things that I have ironed out of my game and had a bit of time to work on," he explained.

"I was getting too deep into my technique and trying to be too perfect instead of just playing with what I've got; just going out there, reading the game and then using my technique to adjust to whatever they are bowling and how they're trying to attack me," he added.

On his recall to the ODI side after Green was injured, Labuschagne said, "It is probably a nice reminder for yourself after struggling for a couple of years that you have still got it."

"It does not matter how good you are or how many runs you have scored, when you do not score runs for a while, those doubts creep in," he added.

On prospects of an Ashes recall, Labuschagne signed off by saying, "I always just kept telling myself if I am playing at my best, selection takes care of itself."

- ANI