Marnus Labuschagne, the No. 4 player for Australia, has declined to offer any explanations for their 2023 World Cup campaign’s poor start. The right-handed batsman acknowledged that their poor fielding against the Proteas was insufficient and emphasized the urgency of immediately improving.
On Thursday, October 12, in Lucknow, Australia lost to South Africa by 134 runs after giving up six catches throughout their innings. The five-time champions held the Proteas to 311 runs, but their batsmen toiled and could only muster 177 in the end.
At a news conference, Labuschagne said Australia needed to improve because they were playing in the World Cup as their nation’s representative. The Men in Yellow, he insisted, are eager to put things right and get the “train rolling.”
He stated, as cited by cricket.com.au:
The difference in defeat was 134 runs, but it could have been higher if Mitchell Starc and Labuschagne hadn’t put together a 69-run partnership. With 46(74), the former also had Australia’s highest score.
“I’m not here to sit and make excuses. We’re playing a World Cup for Australia, we have to be ready and we have to be better than that. It’s hard to put your finger on it, we’re one of the best fielding sides in the world. We pride ourselves on that. We just didn’t seem to get it right today. We created opportunities and just didn’t take them and it just wasn’t a great performance from us, but we have to bounce back and get this train rolling.” Marnus Labuschagne said.
