After a disheartening 134-run loss to South Africa at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Marnus Labuschagne expressed Australia’s determination to face the challenge of securing victories in six, if not all, of their remaining seven matches in the 2023 World Cup. He believes that there is still time for the five-time champions to regain their best form and qualify for the knockout stages.
Australia’s fielding woes continued as they missed five crucial catches, revealing a troubling pattern of subpar fielding performances.
During South Africa’s innings, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis dropped a straightforward catch. Skipper Pat Cummins also missed a simple return catch off his own bowling. Several others, including Mitchell Starc, Josh Inglis, and sub-fielder Sean Abbott, also let opportunities slip through their fingers in the field.
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In addition to fielding woes, Australia’s batting struggled to gain momentum, ultimately managing only 177 runs in response to South Africa’s 311/7. This resulted in their second consecutive defeat in the tournament.
Labuschagne, speaking at a press conference, did not offer excuses for Australia’s subpar performance in the field. He expects his team to show significant improvement in this discipline as the World Cup progresses.
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“I’m not here to make excuses. We are representing Australia in a World Cup, and we need to be prepared and perform better than what we showed today. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact issue; we are known as one of the best fielding sides in the world, and we take pride in that,” Labuschagne stated, as reported by cricket.com.au.
“We had opportunities but failed to capitalize on them, and it was not a great performance from us. However, we need to bounce back and set our campaign in motion,” he emphasized.
While acknowledging the tough loss against South Africa, Labuschagne stressed that there is no time to dwell on disappointment in the changing rooms.
“We can be disappointed with this performance, and there are several aspects we can reflect on. However, we cannot afford to linger in the changing room. We must take action and set our tournament in motion.”
“In just three days, we face Sri Lanka here, and we likely need to win every game or come close to securing a spot in the final four. Our start has not been ideal, but this is only the beginning, not the end,” Labuschagne concluded.
Australia’s next match is against Sri Lanka, who have also faced defeats in their first two matches, on Monday at the same venue.
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