Somehow, just somehow, Marnus Labuschagne always finds a way. Not long back, he wasn’t in Australia’s initial provisional 18-member World Cup squad but an injury to Ashton Agar and timely runs ensured he found a spot in the 15 which played the 2023 edition of the multi-nation event in India.
On the eve of the final, Australia’s XI wasn’t communicated to the players till 10 pm but Marnus took a sigh of relief when a “same team” message popped in his inbox 45 minutes later.
“Last night, 10 o’clock, the team hadn’t been announced yet. Didn’t know (if I was playing), I was sitting on my bed. And I was actually thinking: How can I add value then if I’m not playing? Maybe fielding?” Marnus told cricket.com.au. “Then at quarter past 10, the team got sent out and it just said ‘same team’. So that was a bit of a relief,” he added.
Twenty-four hours later, he was at the non-striker’s end when Glenn Maxwell hit the winning runs and Australia became World Cup champions for the sixth time. 58* from 110 balls and a match-winning 192-run stand with Travis Head later, he patiently waited for Pat Cummins to finish his post-match press conference.
World Cup medal around his knock, a barefooted Marnus rested on the giant door of the press conference room and was wearing the slightly ripped playing lower. Like him, the entire Australian team threw themselves around in the field to keep the capacity crowd silent for most of the game. Marnus was “quite nervous” while waiting for his turn to bat but it was business as usual when he took guard in the middle.
“I was quite nervous when I was waiting. But when you actually get on the field, nothing really. Tried to just watching the ball. And you just try and get in the zone to try and focus the noise sort of just get blocked out and get into in the periphery. But it was loud. And the Indian team were in demand, and there was a lot of pressure there. And it’s good,” said Marnus at the ICC mixed zone.
The scoreboard reading 47/3, with the ball still doing a bit, Marnus walked into bat in a tricky situation but applied himself well in that partnership with Travis Head. For him, it was just staying out there and following a Test match approach.
“My mindset was you can treat it like a test match. Because when you are batting with Travis Head at the other end, there’s usually no run rate pressure and the lower total help. You know 230, when you are chasing 230, you know, unless you’re really struggling, there’s not going to be much run-rate pressure. So for me, it was just be nice and positive. But just you know, lock in like I would if I was playing a Test match, just make sure you defending the ball. Well, when they ball a bad ball. Yeah, you score off that. And like you said, just start building a partnership with your partner out there,” added Marnus.
From not being in the initial provisional squad to standing here with a World Cup medal around his neck and a crucial knock in the final, it has been nothing short of a fairy tale for Marnus. The gritty right-hander never stopped believing and always felt “there’s someone above putting the pieces of the puzzle together”.
“It’s hard for me not to believe in miracles and there’s someone above putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Because you know, if you look at how my series… I was unofficially dropped five times but played every game. Wasn’t in the squad in South Africa, someone got concussed, I got an opportunity, got some runs pushed my case, got on the squad, and played every game. Played 19 games since the first South African game in a row.
“So it’s hard for me not to think, you know, a man of faith, that there’s not someone else pulling the strings. And I’m very thankful, you know, for the coaches and the selectors for sticking by me. You know, there are some really good players, Marcus Stoinis has missed out on this game. And he’s a phenomenal player. And you know, I’m just very thankful that they stuck with me and stuck by me,” said Marnus.
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