'There's some technical deficiency, time to look at somebody else' - Ricky Ponting wants Australia to move past Labuschagne

Ricky Ponting has called for Australia to move beyond Marnus Labuschagne following the batter's continued poor form during the Test series against Bangladesh. Labuschagne was dismissed for 4 runs in the second Test on August 22 in Mackay, extending a difficult run that has seen him score 1 and 31 in the first Test in Darwin.

Ponting, speaking after Day 1 of the second Test, expressed frustration with the length of Labuschagne's struggles and suggested the time had come for selectors to consider alternative options. The former Australia captain acknowledged the selectors' efforts to restore Labuschagne's form but felt the evidence had become overwhelming.

"Well look with this Aussie team and the selectors I admire what they’re trying to do with Marnus. I admire that they tried to get him and get him back to his best but it’s been way too long now. And I’m on record as saying I would have made that change at the start of this series because I think there was enough evidence for me to suggest that he was a long way from rediscovering his best," Ponting said on 7Cricket.

“And he’ll look back at today, he was unlucky, there’s no doubt about that. But that tends to happen to you as well when you’re struggling and you’re trying to find some form and some rhythm. The worry that I had with him, I think there’s some technical deficiency there but he’s making the margin for error for the bowlers too great,” he added.

Technical deficiency and the back-foot problem

Ponting identified a specific technical issue affecting Labuschagne's ability to score runs. The former captain highlighted how the batter's inability to play off the back foot had become a critical weakness that opposition bowlers were exploiting systematically.

"With the length, he can’t score off the back foot. If you can’t score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game. That’s the great difference between when he was at his best and we highlighted some graphics earlier, three or four years ago where he’s averaging 65-68 for a test year. That was when he was scoring off front foot and back foot. I think the bowlers now know that they can run in a bowl anywhere from almost 10 metres to about four metres on off stump and out as wide as they want and he can’t hurt them," Ponting said.

Ponting stressed that his call for change was not a panic reaction to recent losses but rather a conclusion based on sustained underperformance. He drew on his experience as a player and captain to explain his reasoning for advocating a selection change.

"So I well and truly think it’s time to have a look at somebody else. Don’t get me wrong I’m not one for making panic change just because we lost last week. It wasn’t about that. Guys that I played with they would tell you that I’d do everything I could to keep them in these players in my side," Ponting said.

"I didn’t want to make change but when something stretches out as long as it has now and it’s well over two years since he’s made a Test match hundred. If the numbers aren’t there, I was all about just picking on talent. And we’ve seen that it has worked in the past. There has to be one, two, three, four guys out there that when you watch them bat, they just make batting look that little bit easier than the others," he concluded.

Also Read: We are still well in the game, says Shoriful Islam after Bangladesh's Day 1 batting collapse in Mackay Test

Labuschagne's form had deteriorated significantly over recent years. He had not scored an international century in over three years. Since the start of 2023, he has scored just 1,655 runs in 61 Test innings at an average of 30.09.