Ahead of Saturday's clash, the Aussie batter admitted it was a ‘shock’ how poorly England had performed in India
Marnus insists Ashes flashpoint is 'dead and buried'
Marnus Labuschagne insists tension over Jonny Bairstow's controversial Ashes stumping is "dead and buried", at least from Australia’s side, as the batter admitted his shock at England's poor World Cup form.
Many of the key participants involved in the fallout of the Lord's flashpoint will face off for the first time since the winter Test series when the rivals meet in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
All but four of the Aussies' current ODI squad toured England with the Test team earlier this year. They will come up against the likes of Bairstow and Test captain Ben Stokes, who have accused Pat Cummins’ side of acting against the spirt of cricket by not recalling Bairstow in the second Test.
Bairstow, in an interview during the series with the authors of the recently-released 'Bazball: the Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution' book, said: "If that's how they want to go about it and win a cricket game or what have you, then so be it."
Moeen Ali, another Test-ODI crossover player, equated the Ashes incident with the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, suggesting Cummins had missed an opportunity to "take away that label they have had for a while with 'Sandpapergate'".
But Australian players remain steadfast on their position and Labuschagne said they had moved on.
"I couldn't care less who we're playing – we really just want to beat England," he told reporters in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
"I can't imagine anything's gonna come up with Jonny. It's dead and buried, something that we don't really talk about, we don't discuss.
"I don't think anyone's view or thoughts have changed on the on the decision on what happened and we just move on.
"It's a good conversation to stir the pot and the media loves stirring the pot about that.
"But as players, it's happened. I think everyone's moved on and it keeps coming up because more people outside of the game are talking about it.
"I know Jonny came out and spoke about it a few months ago but … we pre-record stuff and then it comes out two months later so it feels like it's topical again now but that conversation was had months and months ago."
The Australians are wary of an England 50-over team that have won just one game out of six in India.
The defending champions have had a disastrous tournament, with their defeat to India on Sunday leaving them stuck on the bottom of the standings and their hopes of making the semi-finals all but dashed.
Recent revelations that they are now in danger of missing the 2025 Champions Trophy – only the top seven-placed teams at this World Cup, plus hosts Pakistan, will qualify – has further turned up the heat on the side coached by Australian Matthew Mott.
"It's obviously always a shock when a team like that are six (losses) and one (win)," said Labuschagne, accidently attributing one more loss to England this campaign.
"Regardless of how they're playing, six and one for a high quality lineup and being 10th in the World Cup – absolutely it's a shock.
"What this World Cup has shown is the subcontinent brings all the teams very close together. Teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka … it is just close.
"That's what has made it so entertaining because the likes of the Netherlands have won two, Afghanistan have won three, Pakistan three.
"It is so tight and it makes for great viewing because every game, every night is a great fixture and it's a great game to watch.
"But obviously England, just being horribly out of form, I don't really think there's much else.
"But one thing that does mean is they're dangerous. If there's ever a team that's dangerous when they're down and out, it's England.
"Hopefully we can just keep playing well like we have and more focus on our own game. Let's not get sucked into how they're performing. They're a good team, they're good individual players and we need to be at our best."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Defeated Pakistan by 62 runs
October 25: Defeated Netherlands by 309 runs
October 28: Defeated New Zealand by five runs
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points