Marnus Labuschagne says he's devised a plan to combat Stuart Broad in the second Ashes Test, but the Australian first drop is remaining tight-lipped on the details of his ploy as his chance at Lord's looms.
Labuschagne was removed for a golden duck in Australia's first dig at Edgbaston, before falling for 18 in the visitors' second innings with the bat.
In both instances in Birmingham, Broad got the 29-year-old flirting outside off and drew his outside edge.
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"I had to go away and probably ask myself the question, 'Why did I play at those deliveries?', and I've come up with my own summation of why that is," Labuschagne told reporters.
When asked if he could reveal why he fell for Broad's trap in the opening Ashes Test, he smirked and gave a coy reply.
"Not completely. I can't give them everything."
When the Lord's Test gets underway on Wednesday, Labuschagne will return to the venue at which he reignited his Test career as the first concussion substitute in Test history, during the 2019 Ashes.
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The Queenslander had not played a Test since facing Sri Lanka in Canberra in February 2019, but was given another chance after Steve Smith was felled by a vicious Jofra Archer bouncer.
He made a gutsy 59 in the fourth innings of that Lord's Test, which ended in a draw, and has since become a prolific No.3.
From 39 Tests, Labuschagne has tallied 3474 runs at 55.14, including 10 centuries, and he used to have the No.1 ranking in men's Test batting.
He's currently ranked third, behind England's Joe Root and New Zealand's Kane Williamson.
"The last time I walked through there (the crowd at Lord's) no one knew who I was, so they weren't really clapping out of excitement," Labuschagne said of replacing Smith in 2019.
"Last time it was like, 'This isn't Steve Smith', so it'll be different, I assume, walking out this time."
Australia won the first Test of this year's series by two wickets in remarkable fashion.
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