Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne has reflected on what has been a superb past year of cricket and is eager to take his game to another level.
The South African-born has had an excellent international introduction for the Baggie Greens, rising as the No 3 Test batsman in the world. Now he has set his sights on evolving his game even more to contribute in all three formats.
‘The way things have unfolded has been awesome,’ Labuschagne told Cricket.com.au.
READ: Faf: New staff needed new leader
‘For me it’s been about, one, taking it all in and being really happy and proud of that. But also then looking at, “Righto, how I can get better?”, and looking at different parts of your game on and off the field that you can work on to make sure you’re continually getting better.’
The right-hander made his debut in red-ball cricket against Pakistan in October 2018 and became the first concussion substitution in Test cricket when he replaced Steve Smith during the second Ashes Test match at Lord’s last year.
Labuschagne’s meteoric rise continued over the summer with brilliant batting performances against Pakistan and New Zealand in Australia, which included a double ton in Sydney against the Black Caps.
He followed that up with a special maiden ton during the third and final ODI against the Proteas in Potchefstroom in March.
‘There’s heaps to improve on, that’s for sure. Personally, in one-day cricket, an area I want to continue to get better at is that later stages in the innings – the boundary options at the back end of a one-day game.
‘That’s the beauty of the game – you’re never satisfied with where you are. You can be happy with where you are, but you want to be better, you want to continue to drive yourself to get the absolute best out of yourself that you can,’ Labuschagne said.