Shaheen Afridi Gets Marnus Labuschagne Once Again In County Cricket

If we look at recent faceoffs between Marnus Labuschagne and Shaheen Afridi, the latter has troubled the former quite orderly. The story started back home during the historic Australia tour of Pakistan in March. In 5 innings played, Shaheen Afridi dismissed Marnus Labuschagne three times.

No question this young talent can troubled any top order batsmen. Indeed, he has done so against a number of world class openers. The pacer was haunted Labuschagne in the Test series against Australia when he dismissed Marnus Labuschagne.

No bowler has dismissed Test No1 Marnus Labuschagne as many times as Shaheen Afridi

Innings: 6
Dismissals: 5

Looks like the young Aussie who is a unorthodox player in the field, will find it hard to escape the troublesome Afridi brings. He has been dismissed by Afridi again, but this time playing in the County Championship for Middlesex against Glamorgan in England. Afridi got a delivery to get up uncomfortably from the short length spot, which Labuschagne tried to do away with with a lose and nothing shot. However, Marnus’s willow hit the back end of the delivery and the innings ended for him. He was livid and frustrated for his anticipation with the ball at the time.

The wicket was Shaheen’s first in county cricket and was shared by Middlesex’s official handle on Twitter with a caption that read:

📺 | SHAHEEN BOWLS MARNUS
Take a look at how @iShaheenAfridi removed Marnus Labuschagne 🔥

Not a bad first @CountyChamp wicket, eh?

This was not the first time that a left-arm fast bowler has outplayed Labuschagne. In the recently concluded tour of Australia to Pakistan, Shaheen had dismissed the Aussies at least once in each of the three Tests, which proved to be a nemesis on sub-continental pitches.

There was a short collapse from the wicket of Labuschagne and Middlesex were on 30 for the loss of five wickets in one leg. Pacer Toby Rowland-Jones also took two wickets.

Sam Northeast was also dismissed for a duck by Shaheen on the very first ball and this gave the pacer a chance to take a hat-trick. However, Kiran Carlsen escaped with a huge appeal down the leg-side and denied Shaheen a great start in county cricket. If he had picked up a hat-trick in his first county match, it would have been a perfect start to his county career. It is still memorable nonetheless.