Marnus Labuschagne is backing Australia’s pink ball experience to tell the story in the second Ashes Test

Marnus Labuschagne has admitted that Australia’s experience of playing day-night Tests means they go into Thursday’s second match of the Ashes with a built-in advantage, while England are using a pink ball for the first time in almost three years.

As well as hosting more day-night Tests than the rest of the world combined, Australia has also scheduled several Sheffield Shield matches under lights and with a pink ball, first between 2013 and 2018 and again in each of the last two seasons. Cricket Australia’s head of national teams, Ben Oliver, explained when they were reintroduced that they are designed “to enhance the experience for domestic players and best prepare them for the challenges of international cricket”.

“I would rather play [with a] red ball over a pink ball? Probably just because you play with it more, you’re used to the color of the ball, you’re used to those things, and there are some complicated things about the pink ball that make it a little bit of a different game,” Labuschagne said. “When it first came out, everyone said, ‘No, we want a red ball.’ It has become something that Australia is very good at. Over time we have learned the different moments of the game and how to play them. Hopefully that can be an advantage for us going into this game.”

Australia also boasts Mitchell Starc, the world’s most successful purveyor of pink-ball swing bowling. “Is he the best pink-ball bowler in the world? I think the stats probably say that,” Labuschagne said. “I think it’s his high tempo, his late swing, and you combine them and under the right conditions at the right time, the pink ball just swings more, or it swings later and more inconsistently, which makes it difficult to line up. I think it’s a combination of being left-handed, swinging at a high tempo and swinging late, that’s probably what makes him so dangerous.”

Labuschagne, whose batting average in day-night Tests of 63.86 is 38% better than his career average of 46.34, said the key to a team’s success is adapting to the unique changes in circumstances that timing brings. “The pink ball is a little different. The different conditions at different times of the day definitely have more impact,” he said. “I don’t know why my record was good against the pink ball but I enjoyed it. It offers so many opportunities at different times. You have to change your game, you have to adapt and there are certain moments where there are lulls and then certain moments where the game speeds up.”

Nathan McSweeney’s partnership against India in Adelaide last year, when the pair successfully negotiated the final 22 overs of the first day under floodlights, was used as an example. “It’s just different moments that you have to win along the way,” Labuschagne said. “There are times when if you play well at that moment you really get into the mood. Last year Nathan and I got through that night session and then we were able to take advantage of the next day’s session and we were able to bowl again in the evening, after that we’ve made progress and flipped the script a bit. When you win the toss we’ve made progress and flipped the script a bit. [and bat first] it can prepare the match very nicely so that you can continue to have the night session.

Labuschagne pushed back against the view recently expressed by both Pat Cummins and Travis Head that batting orders are an increasingly outdated concept. “I think where you bat in the order shifts the time you come into the crease, and I think that’s why there’s a batting order, because certain times suit certain players and the way they play,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you hit, you just have to find a way to score points.”