“I really enjoy the way you [England] play, I’m not going to lie,” Labuschagne said. “As a cricket watcher who watched the series before, I loved it. I think it’s exciting, it’s entertaining, it’s good to watch, but at the end of the day, we played well below what I think is the standard for our team.
“The idea was how are they going to do it against our bowlers and they showed they can do it, but with a wicket they could have a bit more.” [at Lord’s]what will it look like? We came out of the first Test 1-0 up and that’s a positive sign for us because I don’t think we played our best.”
However, Labuschagne felt that Root’s approach kept Australia in the game and he duly edged out Lyon’s one for 46, to follow up an unbeaten 118 on the opening day, as neither England batsman reached fifty on the opening day. second entry.
“The way he’s hitting I think is exquisite … I’m just talking about when he’s hitting normally, I think he’s playing very well,” Labuschagne said. “I think from my perspective, him playing that method and those [reverse] shots keep us in the game.
“I use that second inning as an example. He probably had an opportunity to shut us out and take the game away completely. But the method and the way he played kept us in the game. He played an amazing inning, but he ended up getting 40 [46] and if you make that over 80, we’re chasing 300 and that’s going to be a lot of effort.
“So I think that’s the benefit to us from the way they play. They’re playing aggressive cricket and he’s doing it with a different method, which is great, but it gives us other opportunities. Hopefully at some point in the series, that will continue to pay off.”