CWC 2023: Labuschagne backs Australia to brush aside bad start

"It is the beginning not the end," said an optimistic Marnus Labuschagne, who has backed Australia to brush off their bad start

Lucknow: “It is the beginning not the end,” said an optimistic Marnus Labuschagne, who has backed Australia to brush off their bad start at the World Cup and deliver under pressure.

Australia, the most successful team in the competition, suffered back-to-back losses against India and South Africa in their opening two games at the World Cup to be ninth in the 10-team table with a Net Run Rate of -1.846.

---

The men from Down Under find themselves in a precarious position to win at least six of their remaining seven games to make the semifinals.

“I don’t know how the points system works but we’re going to need to win every game from here I assume or at least very, very close to get into that four,” Labuschagne said at the post-match press conference after the defeat to South Africa on Thursday.

“But once again, it’s the reason Australia has won the World Cup five times because we play well under pressure and we haven’t started well, but this is the beginning, not the end.” The five-time champions were outplayed in all departments in their 134-run loss to South Africa. They were clumsy on the field, clueless with the ball and suffered yet another batting collapse.

“People are down but we also know we got a job right? We can be disappointed about this performance, we can be disappointed about lots of things, how we played, but the reality is you can’t sit and sulk in the changing room.

“We’ve got to take action and we’ve got to get our tournament underway and in three days’ time we’ve got Sri Lanka here,” Labuschagne said.

After Mitchell Marsh fluffed Virat Kohli’s catch, which could have potentially changed the complexion of the game against India, the Australians dropped as many as five catches on Thursday.

Labushagne, who top-scored for Australia with a 74-ball 46, felt his side has to do better.

“We certainly have played a lot but I’m not here to sit and make excuses. We’re playing the World Cup for Australia. We have to be ready; we have to be better than that,” he said.

“It’s hard to put your finger on it. I mean, we’re one of the best fielding sides in the world – we pride ourselves on that and, you know, we just didn’t seem to get it right today.

“We created opportunities and just didn’t take them and yeah, it just wasn’t a great performance from us. But we have to bounce back and get this train rolling.”