Marnus Labuschagne in telling Sheffield Shield move amid concerns over Mitch Marsh

OPINION

Could Marnus Labuschagne solve Australia's bowling headache for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy? The Aussie batsman sure thinks so.

To begin the new Sheffield Shield season the 30-year-old has seemingly moved away from his customary spin bowling and instead is now charging in off the long run up in what could be a major hint that he is set to take on some of the extra bowling workload in Cameron Green's absence this summer. With Green sidelined, Australian captain Pat Cummins has called on Marsh to take on an increased bowling workload this summer. However, the reality is it is something he is not accustomed to and likely won't be able to do for all five Tests against India.

Green will miss the entire five-Test series against India and the Test tour of Sri Lanka after deciding to have radical surgery to fix stress fractures in his back. And with selectors set to replace Green with a specialist opener to enable Steve Smith to drop back to his preferred No.4 spot, there are more overs to go around.

While Nathan Lyon can work through long spells, the lack of a fifth bowler will undoubtedly place added pressure on the team's aging pace attack. Marsh will get through some overs with Tasmania in preparation. But Marsh averaged just five overs a game last summer and has only bowled more than 10 overs in a Test match once since his return in last year's Ashes. He has also only bowled 21 overs in 40 white-ball matches during that time while spending time playing as a batter due to fitness concerns.

One bowling option that has flown under the radar so far is Labuschagne who has also quietly picked up his Shield workload, mostly bowling medium pace. And the ability to bring Labuschagne into the attack would definitely come in handy for Cummins.

Marnus Labuschagne offers another bowling option

There have been promising signs with Labuschagne's bowing too. In his Shield spell on Tuesday, in his four overs, he troubled the top of South Australia's batting order before lunch. While he didn't manage to get a breakthrough, there were LBW shouts and plenty of edges, with the South Australian batsmen struggling to get used to his unorthodox style.

Labuschagne has brought himself on to bowl in both of Queensland's two Shield games and it would be fair to suggest he could be thrown the ball throughout the Aussie summer. And his bowling record is far from terrible.

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To date, the 30-year-old has bowled in 44 innings, picking up 13 wickets at an average of 58.23. And in a recent interview, Labuschagne expressed his desire to be given an opportunity to bowl at Indian star Virat Kohli.

“What are you going to get there? Are you going to get the number three of Australia rolling in bowling bouncers to Virat Kohli? I think people want to see that. You want to see, can you play on someone's ego? Are you going to be ducking bouncers from Marnus?” Labuschagne said on The Grade Cricketer podcast.

“I'm happy to throw in whenever. Whatever the team needs. I'd love to hit a little 135 kmph bouncer. I got that in me. My highest recorded is 132 kmph, so just three k(mph) more. The boys hate that. They'll hate that I've said that I've got 135 in me,” he added.