County Championship 2022: Shaheen Afridi traps Marnus Labuschagne with a perfect delivery

Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi continued his excellent battle against Marnus Labuschagne and dismissed him once again, this time in the County Championship Division two-game between Middlesex and Glamorgan. Afridi has enjoyed bowling against Labushchagne having got the better of him five times in international cricket across formats. Labuschagne is one of the best Test batters going around and he can pile up the pressure on the bowling side by playing those long innings.

In the recent Australia’s historic tour to Pakistan, Labuschagne was part of all the games across formats and Afridi managed to dismiss him thrice in the three Tests alone. In 2019, Pakistan toured Australia for two Tests, and in both the Tests, Afridi dismissed the 27-year-old on two occasions totally. Labuschagne, averaging 54 now has had a bright start to his Test career, but he definitely hasn’t had the best of times against Afridi.

Coming back to Labushagne’s wicket, Afridi bowled a brilliant length with a bit of shape to bring in and it cramped room for the right-hander who tried to leave the delivery. In the process, Labuschagne got the slightest of edges due to the extra bounce and the ball crashed into the stumps to remove the Australian for just eight runs. In the very next delivery, Afridi picked up Sam Northeast as well and was on a hattrick. The left-arm quick finished with 3 for 35 on his debut in County Championship and was quite impressive as well.

Here’s the excellent delivery from Shaheen Afridi to get rid of Labuschagne

Meanwhile, Middlesex won the toss and opted to bowl at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff and the move worked out perfectly as they bundled up Glamorgan for just 122 in their first innings, thanks to an excellent spell of bowling from Afridi and Roland Jones, the new ball pair. Middlesex have started their innings well having gone past the 50-run mark, but have lost two wickets in the process.