Australia have a number of international assignments in Asia this year, including tours of Pakistan and India. Given that they will likely face spinning conditions, Labuschagne took to social media to show the unusual conditions he created at home to try and get to grips with the turning ball.

“I’ve been working on a little project about playing spin in subcontinent, to practise at home and also have fun at home,” Labuschagne said. “I’ve got this mat that I have used over the years for different things: for a bit of seam movement and try and get a bit of spin off it. But obviously in the subcontinent one of the big factors is the ball spinning big, and then also sliding on big.

Labuschagne then showed aluminium and metal sheets he’d taped onto the rubber matting. “So the idea is that the ball will skid on if it hits the metal fabric on the taped side, and if it hits in-between in the rubber, it’s gonna spin. So obviously from a batter’s perspective then, I am trying to set-up here and work on: how I am gonna play in these conditions, play for the inside, for the slide. You know, picking up the length, looking for balls to score off. So we’ve given it a try today, it’s been quite successful. Hopefully we can get some footage and have a look at it.”

Labuschagne then showcased his attempts of batting on the tricky surface. Australia’s three-match Test series with Pakistan begins on March 4, 2022.

Playing around with recreating spinning conditions in the backyard 🏏 pic.twitter.com/votnKELwCH

— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 17, 2022

Annnd the batting video pic.twitter.com/6IQpqyvlsC

— Marnus Labuschagne (@marnus3cricket) February 17, 2022