'We know how good they are' - Labuschagne on Australia's Afghanistan challenge

Marnus Labuschagne says Australia are going all out to win their final group match at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 when they face Afghanistan on Friday - and they know what to expect.

The 30-year-old cast his mind back to the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023, when his side edged a three-wicket win over Afghanistan with 19 balls remaining - thanks in no small part to an unbeaten 201 from Glenn Maxwell.

But Afghanistan had set a tough chase of 291 - and their bowling attack took seven Australian wickets in that encounter.

"If we're batting, we'll be looking to combat their spin through the middle, which has been their really strong point," Labuschagne told reporters on Thursday.

"Their pace bowling has been very good in the last few games, Noor Ahmed started really well, they finished off the game really well last night.

"Going into their batting, we saw that they've got batters last time we played Afghanistan as well, their top order, they got 300 [actually 291] and Maxwell played that amazing innings and got us over the line."

Labuschagne dismissed the suggestion that Afghanistan might be considered underdogs, adding: "We know how good they are, we know the skill level that they play with. But we're going to make sure we come really well prepared and put a really good performance together."

He also added that Australia won't be deterred by crowd noise in favour of their opponents - or the weather.

Rain has hit several matches so far this tournament - including Australia's scheduled fixture against South Africa in Rawalpindi - but Labuschagne says that it hasn't made a difference to the way Australia prepare.

"Most of our preparation came before the tournament," he said. "We've had a training rain-out and then the game rain-out against South Africa, and our training now is indoors. The boys have played a lot, we're ready to go. When you come to these tournaments you have to be prepared to play."

Australia ready to perform

Australia's sole outing at Champions Trophy 2025 so far was a five-wicket win over England, and Labuschagne says that the all-round team performance in that encounter bodes well for the rest of the tournament.

"It feels like we're at the clinch part of the tournament and we've only played one game. Josh Inglis played amazingly with Alex Carey through that middle period. There were different parts of the game where different people stood up, I thought Matt Short played beautifully at the start. There were different partnerships that really made that game.

"Going into tomorrow's game, we've all got to be ready to perform, it doesn't matter if you're young or you're a senior player, we've got to find a way to put a good score on the board, or if we're chasing the total, make sure we win the game."