‘I said a prayer to Phil’: Inside the Marnus Labuschagne rebuild

For almost 11 years, Neil D’Costa couldn’t bring himself to return to Macksville – the hometown of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes and a place filled with memories that cut too deep.

Even when the cricket world descended on the sleepy NSW North Coast town to farewell Hughes in 2014, D’Costa stayed away, despite being as close as anyone to the dashing left-hander.

That changed in May.

D’Costa, one of Australia’s most respected batting coaches – who has mentored the likes of Michael Clarke and Hughes – was deeply concerned about another of his boys: Marnus Labuschagne.

During a long drive from Brisbane to Sydney, having just visited Labuschagne, D’Costa turned off the Pacific Highway and walked into the nets at Phillip Hughes Oval in Macksville. He wanted to tell his old mate he hadn’t been forgotten … and ask for a favour.

“I had a religious gift that I wanted to leave there for Phillip,” D’Costa says. “I said a prayer and I said, ‘Phil, give Marn some strength to get some runs, bro. He doesn’t know where he’s at. It’d be appreciated, bro’.”

Labuschagne’s Test career was in limbo. A month out from the World Test Championship final, D’Costa could see his protege’s technique was all at sea. Being dropped felt inevitable.

D’Costa was so worried – and so invested – he drove to Brisbane without stopping, and began a series of crisis net sessions with Labuschagne, whose Test average had slipped from 60.8 in late 2022 to 46.7 after Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in early 2025.

Things are far rosier now. Labuschagne has peeled off five hundreds in a seven-match stretch for Queensland across all formats and is virtually assured of returning to Australia’s XI for Friday’s first Ashes Test.

D’Costa fronted Labuschagne, who he’d worked with since 2017, and asked if he’d been doing the drills. The same drills every D’Costa player must do, from Clarke and Hughes to NSW opener Will Salzmann, to Sydney first grade triple-centurion Harjas Singh, to Hills Grammar school student Alish Hirani, who hit 309 not out this week, to the regular 12-year-old just trying to make a rep team.

It is no coincidence D’Costa produces so many polished batting prospects. His methods, shaped by thousands of hours studying the greats, have worked for more than two decades.

“I haven’t been doing them,” Labuschagne admitted.

“Well what am I doing here?” D’Costa shot back. “You think they’re for 10-year-olds? Are you serious?”

“Your bat is nowhere. Your last few games are a disgrace and you’re whinging about people not backing you? You don’t even look like the guy who used to play.”

D’Costa made Labuschagne, another man of faith, promise “on God” to get back and do the drills. If he did, D’Costa said, there was no reason he couldn’t become one of the game’s greats.

“If you don’t do the drills, you don’t know where your starting point is,” D’Costa says. “You’re in the middle of nowhere. Does that sound like how he looked?

“It frustrated me because people were saying he’d lost it. He hadn’t lost it. He just wasn’t doing the drills. It was like watching a ship sinking.”

In D’Costa’s view, Labuschagne had drifted from the framework that once made him so impenetrable. His shape had become “loose”.

They stripped everything back. Much of the technical work remains confidential – D’Costa knows every flaw England will try to expose this summer – but no stone was left unturned.

Across three days, from 9.30am to 1pm at the Brisbane Cricket Centre, the pair attacked the basics with bowling machines, batting tees and “wangers” – the tennis-ball flingers often used with dogs.

Labuschagne hit balls barefoot, froze in positions after contact, focused on breathing patterns, faced underarms and shadow-batted endlessly.

D’Costa, trained to spot flaws within seconds, rebuilt him methodically from the ground up.

“We did a very intense workout. He had to do it across four weeks,” D’Costa says.

“It’s building that muscle memory right from the ground to the end of the shot. Some cricketers have egos. They just want to hit balls on the bowling machines. Baseballers who get paid $16 million a year practise off a tee.

“Depending on who you’re playing, where you’re playing and the conditions, you can then just make adjustments on the run, but the framework remains the same.

“I think at times he was becoming very rigid.”

They agreed progress had been made. As Labuschagne prepared to fly to the UK for the WTC final against South Africa, he promised to continue the drills.

Thrown up to open, Labuschagne made 17 and 22 at Lord’s, but importantly, soaked up 120 balls. A week later, he was dropped for the first Test against the West Indies, having gone 30 innings without a hundred.

“In the WTC, we just started seeing something … he was playing a little better. He knew it, others knew it, but I think he had to be dropped,” D’Costa says. “It’s a blister. You’ve got to pop it. It’ll look a little bit ugly for a little while, but then the air gets in, and it gets better.”

In the Caribbean, now out of the team, Labuschagne spent hours on match days facing Scott Boland – another player outside the XI – in fierce net duels. He and D’Costa exchanged messages: a simple g’day, an emoji, a song, a quote.

But D’Costa continued to annoy Labuschagne about doing the drills.

When Labuschagne returned to Australia, D’Costa could see the changes. His “line” was straight to the ball. He was hitting the ball wide of mid-on, cashing in on balls on his hip, striking crisply through the covers and defending with conviction.

He was balanced. His head was still. His “shapes” were back.

Then came the runs:

• 130 in a one-dayer against Victoria.
• 160 in a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania.
• 105 against Tasmania in a one-dayer.
• 159 against South Australia in Adelaide.
• 101 against NSW in Sydney.

Everything clicked. The relief was palpable. On November 5, Labuschagne was named in Australia’s Test squad. Others in the D’Costa stable, like Salzmann and Singh, belted runs for fun.

“You develop a close relationship with guys you work with and you live their ups and downs,” D’Costa says. “I’m still competitive. I want to create the best player I can to score runs and dominate. It makes me smile and gives me joy.

“I’m just really proud Marn took it on the chin and said, ‘Yep, I need to change’. Not many people can do that, right? I can’t be more proud of him.”

After his century against NSW, Labuschagne acknowledged the tweaks.

“It’s about sticking to your process of how you’re going about it and keep trying to invest in reading the game out there, not in the nets,” Labuschagne said. “Then trust your skills when you’re out there.”

D’Costa isn’t fussed where Labuschagne bats against England – “Justin Langer averaged 41 at No.3 for Australia and 50 as an opener” – but believes he will flourish either way.

Labuschagne is like a son to D’Costa, as Hughes once was. It’s why the arrival of Labuschagne’s baby son Judah this year will be one more source of motivation this summer as he tries to deliver on months of hard work.

“I said to Marn, ‘I suspect having your son watch you play Test cricket would be important to you?’” D’Costa says.

“He agreed. I said, ‘It’s not over if we do this right.’ I would have loved to live that dream of playing for Australia. It’s not easy to come back from being dropped.

“When you get up in the morning and see they’ve done well, it does feel good.”