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For all the banter and mental games that go on before and during an Ashes series, having the ability to sit comfortably with a series win must be worth its gold to the players. Marnus Labuschagne has always been one of the more talkative and expressive players for Australia, and with the hosts having sealed an unassailable 3-0 series lead with their win at the Adelaide Oval, he didn’t disappoint.
Labuschagne took aim at the media and pundits who had predicted a close Ashes series expecting England to be competitive, and in the same breath also took down Australia by claiming this was the worst side the Baggy Greens had fielded since they last surrendered a home Ashes in 2010-11.
In response, Labuschagne had the perfect answer. Speaking to ABC Sport on-field after the match was sealed, Labuschagne said: “All the media hype, we have to say it, being called the worst Australian team in 15 years… it’s nice to be sitting where we are, three-nil.”
The perfect short-and-sweet answer to all the doubts thrown against the Australian team in the build-up, Labuschagne’s words will also sting particularly given the expectation that England would be fiercely competitive. Instead, the visitors were dominated in Perth and at the Gabba, and even a relatively competitive match in Adelaide was always in Australia’s control.
‘Job’s not done…’
However, Labuschagne also served up a warning to England for the remainder of the series: “The job’s not done yet, we want to make sure it’s 5-0 and really take that urn.”
Labuschagne had a big impact on the Adelaide match, more with his fielding than anything else. In the fourth innings, he took a pair of one-handed blinders in the slips, first to dismiss Ollie Pope on Day 4 before snuffing England’s last hope with a very similar catch of Will Jacks post-lunch on Day 5.
While there have been no particularly ugly spats between the players themselves during these Ashes, with things remaining largely civil, Australia played themselves into a position where they can make jabs like this at those who criticised them in the lead-up. England, meanwhile, feel the pressure mounting after receiving plenty of criticism themselves for not just their on-pitch failures but what has been perceived as a lack of preparation.
Heading into the Boxing Day Test, England’s priority will be to stave off a whitewash at the MCG and SCG in the last two matches of the series and gain some semblance of respect out of what has been a painful series defeat, given all the context.
