"It obviously could have been a much bigger day" - Marnus Labuschagne laments Australia's inability to assert more on Day 1 

Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne felt that Day 1 of the fourth Ashes Test could have been so much better for his side had they not lost too many wickets towards the end. The Aussies finished Day 1 at 299-8 with almost every batter getting a solid start, but being unable to convert it into a big score.

Australia were well placed at different phases of the game but England fought back with a cluster of wickets to fight their way back in. The visitors lost three wickets in the last 20 overs, with the lengthy Australian batting order offering little resistance than expected.

Labuschagne, who scored his first fifty of the 2023 Ashes, spoke to SEN Cricket at the end of the first day at Old Trafford.

“It’s one of those… we’re so close (to the urn)… we’ve just got to take it day by day. Whenever you finish a day with a three in front of it, it’s never a bad day," he said.

"It obviously could have been a much bigger day, we had six guys get themselves in and I think whenever you do that and one of your big guns doesn’t get a big score, you’re pretty disappointed, especially when you’re talking about guys getting in the 40s and 50s, so no one has gone on to get 60 to 80 even. You add those 20 runs and all of a sudden it ekes out to close to 400 and that really puts a big dent in it,” Labuschagne continued.

Labuschagne was trapped lbw by Moeen Ali right after he reached his fifty. The right-handed batter faced 115 deliveries, hitting six fours in total.

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"I think that’s a really good score so far" - Marnus Labuschagne on Australia's efforts on Day 1

Australia were put into bat after losing the toss for the fourth time in a row. Stuart Broad struck early by trapping Usman Khawaja plumb in front and went on to claim his 600th Test wicket later in the day as well.

Mark Wood, on the other hand, accounted for Steve Smith's crucial scalp with his express pace while Chris Woakes was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-52.

Opining that England would find it hard to score runs freely on the surface, Labuschagne stated:

“I think we played really well… I probably didn’t reiterate that enough… we just didn’t go on. 300, I think that’s a really good score so far. I think there was a lot of grass on that wicket, it was quite thatchy, it was tough to score.”

Australia will resume Day 2 with their overnight batters Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins sharing the crease.

How much will the visitors pile on in the first innings? Let us know what you think.