Australia vs New Zealand 2019: Marnus Labuschagne becomes first batsman to score 1000 Test runs in 2019

What's the story?

Marnus Labuschagne has become the first player to breach the 1000-run mark in Tests in the calendar year 2019. He achieved this feat during Australia's 2nd innings of the ongoing Test match against New Zealand.

The background

Marnus Labuschagne made his Test debut in 2018 but he achieved little success in his first few innings. His rise began after he came in as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith during the Lord's Test match against England. He has played with supreme consistency since then as Labuschagne has scored 5 fifties and 3 hundreds after that game.

In his last four innings alone, Marnus has scored 540 runs which includes three centuries and one half-century. These performances indicate how consistently he has batted in 2019.

The heart of the matter

Marnus Labuschagne becomes the first batsman to reach 1000 Test runs in 2019.It's his 10th match and he's going at an average of 71.57 👏#AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/WeVj9EfUfi

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 14, 2019

Marnus Labuschagne has featured in 10 matches for Australia in 2019 where he has aggregated 1,022 runs in 15 innings. He heads the list of the highest run-getters in Test cricket this year, followed by his compatriot Steve Smith (873 runs) and English skipper Joe Root (774 runs).

In 2018, Virat Kohli and Kusal Mendis had achieved the feat of scoring over 1000 Test runs whereas in 2017, six batsmen aggregated more than 1000 runs in the longest format of the game.

Also see – BPL Most Wickets

What’s next?

Labuschagne’s batting performances have helped Australia in taking a 417-runs lead at the end of day 3. The home side still have four wickets in hand and will look to set a target of more than 500 runs.