Australia have backed Marnus Labuschagne to respond with a century after his rare double-failure at Edgbaston, which has cost him top spot in the ICC rankings.
Labuschagne on Wednesday lost his crown as the world’s best Test batsman, with Joe Root overtaking the Queenslander back into the No.1 spot.
Australia’s historic stranglehold on the top three positions in the rankings has also lasted only one Test, after Steve Smith and Travis Head also dropped spots.
Labuschagne’s scores of zero and 13 have moved him down from first to third, while Smith has taken the biggest drop from second to sixth.
Travis Head has too been demoted from third to fourth, after making scores of 50 and 16 in the thrilling two-wicket win.
Joe Root attempts a ramp shot off Pat Cummins. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Labuschagne’s displacement comes after he held onto the No.1 ranking for the past six months, after a long stint at the top prior to that as well.
But Root’s first-innings 118 not out has catapulted him up the rankings from sixth, and left him as the key man for Australia to dismiss in this series.
The news comes after Labuschagne and Smith endured their worst Test match together, with the batting maestros managing 35 runs between them.
Labuschagne in particular was beaten by Stuart Broad’s outswinger, drawn into pushing at the right-armer twice before edging behind.
But Australia can see positives in the situation.
The fact they were able to secure a win without their two best batsmen scoring runs leaves them confident they have the depth to pile on big scores through the series.
“I genuinely just expect him to score a hundred next game,” Usman Khawaja said of Queensland teammate Labuschagne. “We had potentially our two best batsmen not score runs this game, it’s very unlikely, doesn’t happen very often.
“In my opinion, the greatest batsman of my era in Test cricket, Steve Smith, not very often he misses out twice. We’ve still got four Ashes Tests. Might be a good thing for us, they have some runs in the bank.”
ICC RANKINGS:
1. Joe Root (ENG)
2. Kane Williamson (NZL)
3. Marnus Labuschagne (AUS)
4. Travis Head (AUS)
5. Babar Azam (PAK)
6. Steve Smith (AUS)
7. Usman Khawaja (AUS)
8. Daryl Mitchell (NZL)
9. Dimuth Karunaratne (SRI)
10. Rishabh Pant (IND)
England to stick with Moeen for Lord’s – if fit
England will stick with struggling spinner Moeen Ali for Lord’s, with coach Brendon McCullum confirming the veteran will be picked for the second Ashes Test, providing he is fit.
Moeen struggled to grip the ball for large parts of England’s thrilling two-wicket loss to Australia at Edgbaston, as he battled a blister on his spinning finger.
It came amid questions over whether England would stick with the underdone spinner, who was only brought out of Test retirement a week before the series started.
The situation even prompted Nathan Lyon to admit he felt sorry for his spinning rival, though Lyon also proved how valuable spin could have been for England after taking eight wickets for the match.
But the hosts are confident Moeen will be fit for Lord’s, and say they will stick with the 36-year-old after his unhappy match figures of 3-204 at Edgbaston.
“I’m pretty confident that we can get on top of Moeen’s finger,” McCullum said.
“That will give us an opportunity to select him in the next game and, if he’s available, he will be selected.
“I thought Moeen did a great job.
“He bowled a couple of absolute ‘jaffas’ in the game and that’s what his role was, to try and make breakthroughs when he had the opportunity.”
McCullum is also adamant England’s fearless approach was the right one and that they will play the same style of cricket again at Lord’s.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has become one of the first big voices in England cricket to question its necessity, after England declared late on day one in the first innings and threw wickets away at times with attacking strokes.
“Remember, we’ve beaten Australia in England since 2001 playing the old-fashioned way,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“We didn’t need ‘Bazball’ to beat Australia. “The only thing I’ll say is they showed why they’re World Test Champions and the No.1 side in the world. They’ve got some serious players and some seriously tough players as well.”
Hussain was also concerned about the fact England have now lost two of their past three Tests, after also being beaten by New Zealand in February following another first-innings declaration.
“You can’t hide behind that (wanting to entertain),” Hussain said. “England lost in New Zealand as well, if you remember.
“I know they’ve had Ireland in between, but now they’ve lost here and there are two games of cricket they could have won, should have won.”
But McCullum insisted his side had made the right call to play the way they did in Birmingham.
“The application to how we want to play right throughout was superb,” McCullum said. “A couple of things didn’t quite go our way at times as well, but that’s the nature of the game.
“But we firmly believe, the skipper (Ben Stokes) and I, that this gives us our greatest chance.”
McCullum also backed Jonny Bairstow’s glovework behind the stumps after he spilled several crucial chances.
Both teams sanctioned for slow over rates
Australia’s bug bear – slow over-rates – has come back to bite them after been slugged with a two-point World Test Championship penalty following the thrilling first Ashes Test win.
ICC officials deemed both Australia and England were guilty of being two overs behind in the enthralling Test match, which lasted until after 7pm on day five at Edgbaston.
It means Australia’s reward for their two-wicket win on the Test Championship ladder drops from 12 to 10, while England are now on -2 after their first match.
Both teams were also fined 40 per cent of their match fees. Issues with slow over-rates are nothing new for Australia.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Ben Stokes. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
In 2021 they missed the maiden final of the Championship after being docked four points for slow over-rates in the Boxing Day Test against India in 2020.
That was enough to drop them out of the top two on the ladder and they were forced to watch New Zealand beat India in the decider.
Australian players regularly referenced that as motivation for the following two years, on their run to the Test Championship victory over India in this year’s final last week.
Over-rates threaten to be an issue throughout the Ashes series.
The regularity at which England strike boundaries in the Bazball era is likely to challenge Australia’s attempts to get through overs quickly with the ball being hit to all corners.
England were also slow through the match as captain Ben Stokes changed his field almost every ball in key moments of Australia’s two innings.
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