The Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne made a stunning century in the second innings of the Glamorgan during the County Championship 2024 match against Gloucestershire.
Marnus Labuschagne on Epic tie against Gloucestershire
Marnus Labuschagne has been iconic after being involved in a tie County Championship game earlier this week and admitted Glamorgan thought they were home in their bid for a world record run chase.
Gloucestershire set a 593 target where they scored 592 runs which resulted in a tie. Marnus Labuschagne and Sam Northeast smashed centuries helping the side to enter the final over of the match needing two to win.
Mason Crane was at the crease in the last over and played four dot ball before taking a single to equal the scores. Jamie Mcllroy came to bat where he swung hard at Ajeet Dale, which edged and James Bracey attempted and successfully caught having removed his right glove.
“Whenever you are chasing a big score like that it’s always about one step at a time,” Labuschagne said. “But the ground we played at was [a] very fast outfield so you just felt like if you got on top of the opposition and you scored and batted well, things could get out of hand very quickly.
“That’s always in the back of your mind but you are just taking it one step at a time. Then when it gets down to 100 you start getting a little more invested and you get a bit more eager, then it gets down to 50, then we lost a couple more wickets and we are like, do we bat the draw or go all in for the win.
“So there were heaps of ups and downs and even into the last over, we got a boundary off the last ball of the second last over of the day, then we thought we were home. We needed two runs off the last over, we had Mason Crane the batter in on strike. He ended up facing four dots and got a single, so it’s over to the No. 11 to get the job done.
“Incredible game…we got their score, we just couldn’t get one more.” Labuschagne’s last County Championship outing concluded with a century in T20 Blast Matches before he returned to Australia. He is set to captain Queensland’s pre-season before returning ODI series in mid-September.
He scored 468 runs with an average of 58.50 in four first-class matches with two centuries. “The ups and downs of the game is part of the challenge,” he said.
“For me, it was just a good opportunity to review before I came here how I’ve been successful, what I have done in different periods that I’ve been batting well… have done a few technical things and worked on a few things and it’s coming together really nicely, so setting up nicely for some one-day cricket and some Test cricket coming up this summer.
“I always look at my game from a technical lens, finding out ways to improve and get better, and especially with my technique making sure my alignment is good, moving into the ball well, all those sorts of things [are] really important for me.”
“It’s definitely the best catch I’ve taken that’s been caught on camera, that’s for sure,” he said. “I took a catch in club cricket when I was 18 or 19, the boys that I play with at Queensland always say it was another very good catch, but unfortunately we don’t have that on camera, so as good as it never happened.”
Labuschagne could be available for the Sheffield Shield season for Queensland and potentially more depending on how all format players are managed around the limited series against Pakistan. The first Test starts in Perth on November 22.
“It’s there in the back of my mind stewing along,” he said about facing India. “But when you are playing you are always trying to focus on the here and now,” concluded Marnus Labuschagne.
