Australian Test star Marnus Labuschagne caught the eye in the Sheffield Shield as he set a bizarre fielding position while captaining Queensland.
During his side's match against Western Australia on Tuesday (October 8), Labuschagne took up the ball to send down some medium-pacers, and summoned his teammate Tom Straker to stand right next to him as he stood at the top of his mark, preparing to bowl.
The broadcast commentators were taken by surprise to see a fielder take the position exactly behind the umpire. “What do you call that position? Straight on?” asked one of them on-air. As it appeared, Labuschagne wanted to prevent the batters from driving straight down the ground.
Read more: 9 for 34: Where does New Zealand's collapse rank among the worst in Women's T20 World Cup history?
The incident brought back memories of a maneouvre pulled off by Michael Clarke during a Test match between Australia and Pakistan in 2014, when he positioned Mitchell Johnson right behind bowler Peter Siddle. At the time, former Australian captain Allan Border called the move "against the spirit of cricket".
In this match, Western Australia, who had been asked to bat first, amassed 465 in 124.2 overs, courtesy of centuries from skipper Sam Whiteman and wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis.
Cooper Connolly and Cameron Gannon also played valuable hands down the order with fifties each. Labschagne finished with impressive figures of 2-5 in 6.2 overs, claiming the wickets of Gannon and Brody Couch.
Watch Marnus Labuschagne set a bizarre field placing here
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
