The man who shares more than a few things in common with Steve Smith ©Getty
At the end of the first Ashes Test match, Marnus Labuschagne had a proposition for Steve Smith. After studying almost every moment of the 30-year old's 144 and 142 at Edgbaston, he wanted some of his bats. Smith was happy to oblige but on the proviso that Labuschagne do something for him in return - clear up his bag after each match, from then until the end of the series.
It would have been fitting if the first use of one of these bats competitively came as Smith's enforced understudy when the former Australia captain failed a concussion test on the morning of the final day. Slightly shaved down and re-stickered, of course. But a quality the pair share is relentless attention to detail. They are the ultimate cricket badgers, and Labuschagne might be the bigger of the two. As good as Smith's sticks might be, he would rather plump for his number one tried and tested.
It's an English term, "badger" - essentially, an anorak but applied specifically to cricket. Someone deeply consumed by every part of it: playing, watching, talking, the way of life. Especially the gear. Labuschagne, like Smith, is a bat geek.
During a first grade match for his club Redlands, based on the outskirts of Brisbane, his teammates wanted to put this to the test. They blindfolded Labuschagne and handed him an array of bats to see if he could determine which was which.
All were once his: with his Kookaburra sponsorship, he gets sent a load and hands out a few to teammates, but keeping the ones he deems perfect. Even with a sense deprived, Labuschagne guessed each bat correctly: his third bat, net bat, the one he gave to Cameron. Of all the players who Kookaburra cater to, he is the most involved during the manufacturing process.
As far as like-for-like replacements go, the only
