Marnus Labuschagne says scoring his maiden Test century in his home state makes the milestone extra special.
The Queenslander starred for Australia during the recent Ashes series but failed to make a century after playing a part of the last four Tests of the series. But that changed on Saturday as Labuschagne scored 185 against Pakistan in the opening Test of the home summer.
He admitted to re-watching parts of his innings after play and said the manner in which he brought h his debut century contributed to the emotion of the moment.
“It’s a dream come true to score my first hundred and to make it at the Gabba is definitely more special,” he said on SEN Test Cricket.
“I watched (parts of the innings) more than once (last night) and I think it’s more when I nicked it and I looked back, it was more the jubilation of not getting caught and (the ball) rolling through the gap that brought the emotion out.
“(In the 90s) I tried to tell myself to keep telling the singles and keep it simple and occasionally I’d do something rash and I’d be like ‘what are you doing’.
“When I was on 97 I was hoping for something with a bit of width because they had a packed off-side field and I was just going to try squeeze it through there.
“I was probably a bit greedy and tried to go a bit squarer but luckily enough I snuck it through the gap.
“To do it in front of my family and friends is a dream come true and hopefully we can finish (the match) off today.”
Labuschagne said it was the tweaks to the “finer things” in his game that have contributed to his meteoric rise in Test cricket for Australia this year.
“The biggest thing is the appetite for runs and to be a more consistent performer,” he said.
“In previous times I also had patches when I was good, but I feel like I’m getting more consistent now.”
Listen to Marnus Labuschagne's chat on SEN Test Cricket in the player below.