Marnus Labuschagne’s batting coach Neil D’Costa explains how his pupil rediscovered his batting DNA and is now ready to enter another rich vein of Test form
Marnus Labuschagne’s batting coach predicts the star’s best form is yet to come as he enters the “second phase mojo” period of his Test career.
Coaching guru Neil D’Costa insists the 31-year-old has rediscovered his batting DNA after a lull that led to him being dropped for the recent West Indies tour.
A mountain of runs, including five centuries in Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup matches for Queensland, earned an Australia recall for the first Ashes Test in Perth.
Labuschagne struck an unbeaten 51 in the second innings and enters the second Test at the Gabba next week on a high and in control of his game.
“Marnus is in a bubble that he understands now. If he keeps it with him, then look out,” D’Costa told AAP.
“This, dare I say it, could be his second phase mojo period. You find it with a lot of players in that second phase, like Steve Smith and Michael Clarke, they can go very big.
“Marnus has got the thirst to bat for a long period of time. Now that you see him leaving balls and very calm at the crease, I would be very worried if I was a bowler.”
Labuschagne’s first 30 Tests yielded 3041 runs at an average of 60.82, including 10 centuries.
In his most recent 29 Tests, he has scored just 1454 runs at 30.93, with one ton.
D’Costa said the slide and recent return to form this summer was simple to explain.
“Marnus had a batting DNA. When he batted that way he averaged more than 50 and was the No.1 batsman in the world,” he said.
“When he lost that DNA, and there are a number of reasons why that happened, he wasn’t (No.1).
“He went back to it and found it again and he’s back to being that player.”
D’Costa said Labuschagne was not the first to go away from a model that had worked, before reviving the same methodology that had served him so well.
“The way I coach you can, because there are systems in place for you to maintain your techniques, your batlines, your shape and your weight transitioning forward and back so you can be very consistent with your play,” he said.
“Marnus is now very still at the crease. His bat pathway and bat playing presentation is much better. You can see now that he can hit the ball behind point easily, through the covers and midwicket. He can pull. He can play every shot now, which for a while there he couldn’t do.”
Travis Head’s remarkable 69-ball century in the second innings of the eight-wicket win in Perth rightly garnered the most attention, but Labuschagne’s knock, at better than a-run-a-ball, highlighted D’Costa’s point.
It was also apparent during his red-hot form in the Shield and One-Day Cup that Labuschagne’s trademark shot through wide mid-on and midwicket was on-song.
D’Costa said Labuschagne had made a technical adjustment to playing the stroke to perfection, with the panache of India great Virat Kohli.
“It is a trademark shot through midwicket of all the people I coach,” he said.
“In our drills we call it ‘the turnover’ because the bat turns over, but for a while there we called it ‘the Kohli’ because he played it the best.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
