‘The answer to Broad is patience’ – AB de Villiers reviews Marnus Labuschagne’s twin failures against Stuart Broad in Birmingham

ABD with Marnus Labuschagne. (Photo Source : Gettyimages)

Australian batting ace and no. 1 ranked Test batter in the world, Marnus Labuschagne, has had a forgettable outing in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston. Following his disappointing outing in Birmingham, former Proteas skipper and batting great AB de Villiers dissected his dismissals against Stuart Broad.

Labuschagne’s Ashes campaign started on a horrid note after he was dismissed for a golden duck by veteran English pacer Stuart Broad on the second morning of the first Test. Although the 28-year-old managed to get off the mark in Australia’s second innings, he succumbed to Broad for a second time in the match.

Following his twin failures, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen highlighted a key technical flaw in Labuschagne’s stance against the English pacer. Now, South African batting icon AB de Villiers has further elaborated on the point established by Pietersen in one of his latest tweets.

The former South African international stated that Labuschagne was getting sucked in by Broad’s line, which, at times evades the batter’s eye line. ABD, as he is fondly known, also lauded Broad’s game plan to exploit the Aussie batter’s chink in the armour.

@KP24 ’s analysis about Marnus Labuschagne’s dismissals this Test match is absolutely spot on. Similar to Smith too actually. Nothing wrong with their thinking to get on and outside off, but then u need to be super disciplined to leave anything outside your eye-line and look…

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) June 20, 2023

The answer to Broad is patience. Make him come straight and hit it to the left of mid-on when it’s full enough. He thrives on the moment and want batters to play at balls they shouldn’t be playing at. Got to take him deep and get the crowd quiet. Different ball game then.

Once…

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) June 20, 2023

Got to take him deep and get the crowd quiet: ABD

After highlighting the flaw in Labuschange’s batting, the former cricketer suggested the 28-year-old refrain from playing away from the body against Broad and wait for the delivery that is directed at the stumps. He called for patience from the Aussie batter as the English crowd often gets behind their senior bowler, inducing false shots from the batters.