Labuschagne fit for Boxing Day after injury scare

Marnus Labuschagne has declared himself fit and available for the Boxing Day Test despite suffering a painful blow to his right hand while batting in Australia's thumping win over Pakistan in Perth.

Labuschagne, who has played 39 consecutive Tests since being recalled to the line-up as a concussion substitute during the 2019 Ashes tour, underwent scans after being struck on the little finger by a fierce lifting delivery from debutant seamer Khurram Shahzad on Saturday evening.

The 29-year-old received attention from Australia team medical staff on the field, and was sent for x-rays after being dismissed for two not long after suffering the hit.

While the scan revealed no visible fracture, Labuschagne admitted he felt some discomfort when batting against express quick Lance Morris in the Perth Stadium nets prior to play resuming yesterday.

But he claimed he was "definitely" right to play in the second NRMA Insurance Test in eight days' time.

The prolific right-hander said he was initially fearful he had sustained structural damage to the hand, but did not immediately believe it was similar to the hand injury copped by teammate Travis Head which sidelined the World Cup hero for more than a month.

"It hit me more on the knuckle side and jammed up my hand, so I was a bit nervous out there," Labuschagne told reporters in Perth.

"I've had a lot of finger blows but this felt a bit different.

"Overnight it was a little bit sore but (Sunday) morning was fine, I had a hit and it was all right."

"I wasn't necessarily thinking about Trav's finger hit, but it just got me in a bit of an awkward spot.

"There was no padding on that side of the glove, and it got me sort of underneath and jammed it so it didn’t feel that good.

"But I've actually got some really good range in it, so all good."

Labuschagne said the decision to pit himself against 'Wild Thing' Morris, who earlier today was released from Australia's squad for the upcoming MCG fixture, was not specifically to gauge how his sore hand would hold up against genuine pace bowling.

Rather, it presented an opportunity for the obsessive trainer to gain some further batting time in Test-standard-conditions having spent barely an hour in the middle at Perth Stadium where he recorded scores of 16 (off 25 balls) and two (off 18).

While he is expecting vastly different conditions at the MCG to the bouncy Perth track that became increasingly difficult for batting as cracks widened and shifted on day four, Labuschagne does not believe he'll need to alter much in his batting approach to counter Pakistan's quicks on Boxing Day.

"The wickets are really nice out there (Perth Stadium nets), we had the new wickets come in and then facing good bowlers on true wickets is good for skill, good for batting," he said.

"I batted for an hour and faced three bowlers.

"I'll probably have a couple of days off, and have a few sessions back in Brisbane and then join the squad on the 23rd or 24th and commence our prep from there.

"The MCG wicket has changed so much over the last four years.

"It's become very much like the Adelaide wicket, a bit of seam, swing, quite a bit of grass.

"It will be a nice challenge I think, a bit of a different challenge to this (Perth) wicket which was more bounce whereas there will probably be a bit more seam."

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc likened the latest iteration of Perth's Test pitch to the fabled strips at the nearby WACA Ground, with his skipper Pat Cummins describing it as a "good wicket" even though it deteriorated more quickly than expected late in the game.

Batting was made difficult late on day three and more so on day four as seamers got the ball to lift alarmingly from the cracked surface, with statistics suggesting more batters were struck on the upper body (21 in total) than any previous Test at the still-new venue.

However, Labuschagne did not believe the pitch presented a danger even though Australia's quicks tore through Pakistan's top-order to seal their 360-run victory inside four days, with the tourists skittled for 89 in just 30.2 overs.

"It's always hard to judge when the wicket starts off good and then deteriorates," he said.

"Potentially if that's a day-one wicket there might be a few more questions asked, but I think that's what you get coming here.

"Usually the cracks aren't so loose, and you don't get the big discrepancy in bounce.

"Occasionally, one hits a crack but that usually goes way left or way and it's not even a concern.

"But it's when you get those cross-cracks and the ball hits on the low side, goes down and then hits up.

"So I don’t think it was reaching that (dangerous) stage, but was certainly one of those tough games that you get here at Perth."

The world's number five ranked Test batter prior to the first Test, Labuschagne claimed it was difficult to quantify where the Perth pitch rated on scales of most challenging surfaces he's encountered in his 44-Test career.

While he rated the pitch rolled out at Indore for Australia's third Test against India earlier this year, where the visitors claimed a nine-wicket win inside three days with 26 of the 31 wickets to fall to bowlers claimed by spinners, that was not the most problematic he's seen in the recent past.

That title was shared by The Oval in London which hosted last June's World Test Championship Final against India, and his home venue of the Gabba in Brisbane where the opening Test against South Africa last summer was completed in two days as pace bowlers from both sides wrought havoc.

"Our pitch in Indore, the ball was spinning six, seven degrees on day one so that's pretty difficult," Labuschagne said when asked to rank the toughest pitches he's encountered.

"In terms of up and down, the closest (comparison) was probably the Test Championship Final, that was pretty severe up and down but it sort of got better as the game went on I reckon.

"Here and at the WACA (Ground), with the hot weather and such a high clay content, the cracks start opening up and the cracks start moving a lot.

"And the Gabba wicket last year (against South Africa), that was pretty tough but that was obviously different.

"That was divots on the wicket which I would probably say is worse than cracks opening up."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia win by 360 runs

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (10.30am AEDT)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi