abuschagne was suffering from what he calls \u201cElite Performance Decline Syndrome\u201d<\/a>, with mental fragility a symptom of the dip in average and impact.<\/p>\nMarnus Labuschagne had formed a good partnership with subsequent centurion Travis Head when he threw his wicket away on Wednesday. (AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Others believe he remains too front on with his chest when defending and is prone to nicking to slips, which was what occurred in the opening innings when he edged Anrich Nortje to Simon Harmer. <\/p>\n
Cummins is in the camp of the former, saying it his decision making in question, which is understandable after the choice to try to smack Harmer over the fence into a heavy wind led to his downfall when Australia was batting to save the Test.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not a technique error. It\u2019s … maybe a couple of decision makings, some decisions (when) maybe the game demanded something a little bit different,\u201d the Australian captain said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo again, we\u2019ll work on that in the next couple days. (We) think he\u2019s hitting the ball well. We\u2019ve said that earlier. <\/p>\n
\u201c(There\u2019s) one Test match left in the series (and) we\u2019ve got to win this and then obviously there\u2019s a big break, or there\u2019s a bit of a break before the summer. But I\u2019m sure, like the rest of us, the next three days (for him is) about \u2018How do we win next week?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
ALL 10 WICKETS! Aussies Collapse to 99 | 09:55<\/p>\n
South African captain Temba Bavuma, who earned man of the match honours for his superb 179, was quizzed as to whether the Proteas were mindful that Labuschagne was increasingly susceptible to falling after getting a start.<\/p>\n
There was period in his career where he, too, failed to make the most of bright starts but since being elevated to the captaincy of the Proteas, he has made four of his five Test centuries. He, too, thinks it is a mental issue for Marnus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m probably the last person to speak, right, in terms of getting starts and not going big (but) I guess he\u2019s within that phase, right, as a cricketer,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s probably the frustrating thing as a better when you are getting to 30 and 40, and you\u2019re not able to go and get the big scores. I mean, he\u2019s doing all the hard work. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think generally, from what I\u2019ve learned, it\u2019s more a mental thing, you know. And I think only he will know what\u2019s happening in his head when he gets into those moments? But he\u2019s definitely going to be thinking about it when he gets to 30 and 40. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the moment he sees himself getting past those moments, that\u2019s when he\u2019ll kind of get his confidence and belief (back).\u201d<\/p>\n
But he said the Proteas did not lift their intensity against Labuschagne – it remained steady – and pointed out that an ignorance of the conditions at St George\u2019s Park was a factor in his ill-conceived decision to try to loft Harmer over mid-on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us as a team, honestly, we try to keep the same intensity,\u201d Bavuma said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to execute our plans to the different batters and I guess make it hard for them to score runs. And just quickly, yesterday, those are the nuances again of playing here in St George\u2019s. You can kind of see a shortish boundary (and) underestimate the fact that the wind plays a factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the small things about playing at St George\u2019s. If you haven\u2019t played here, they can get you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the congratulations were complete at St George\u2019s Park on Thursday and the Australians milled on the outfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-937354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Marnus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c418985a5c6b8ec69acffa6f184a8805.jpeg\")
Marnus Labuschagne cut a sombre figure during post-Test handshakes, and lingered for some time.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n