The world’s No 1 Test batsman on why he’s not worried about the rise of T20 cricket and how he and his Australian teammates are looking to negate England’s aggressive play in the Ashes
Marnus Labuschagne has been putting the glamour into Glamorgan since 2019, but still there is something slightly hallucinatory about finding the world’s best Test batter at Sophia Gardens. Yet here he sits, snacking on biltong – you can take the kid out of South Africa and all that – while overlooking the outfield at the end of a day’s play, a few weeks before Australia steal him away to join their Test squad for the Ashes and World Test Championship. “I love coming to Cardiff,” he says. “I love the people, I love the club, my family loves being here. It’s kind of like a second home.”
His actual second home for the last couple of years was a Cardiff house shared with his Glamorgan and occasional international teammate Michael Neser, who like Labuschagne was born in South Africa, moved to Australia as a child (Neser was nine, Labuschagne a year older) and settled in Queensland. But now he has a baby, so it didn’t seem like such a good idea. “We’re staying right across the road from each other, literally opposite,” Labuschagne says. “It’s really nice to share the experience, to have been able to share this journey with someone else, a really close friend.” These days, though, Neser is not the only one of those he has here: “I’ve played with these guys for four years. We’re good friends, our wives, kids – you know, you’re building real relationships and a culture and a great feeling.”
Written by Exclusive by Simon Burnton
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/30/marnus-labuschagne-england-australia-ashes-2023-interview-cricket under the title “Marnus Labuschagne: ‘Test cricket has been unbelievable … the game is coming alive’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
