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Marnus evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “Perfect. Then you get it golden on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a perfectly browned of ideal crispiness, the gooey cheese happily sizzling within. “Here’s the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

At this stage, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are going off. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for his state team this week and is being feverishly talked up for an national team comeback before the Ashes.

You likely wish to read more about that. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to sit through three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about toasties, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of overly analytical commentary in the “you” perspective. You feel resigned.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a dish and heads over the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the grilled sandwich chilled. Boom, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

Back to Cricket

Look, to cut to the chase. How about we cover the cricket bit out of the way first? Quick update for reading until now. And while there may still be six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third in recent months in various games – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Australian top order badly short of form and structure, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, exposed again in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that trip, but on a certain level you sensed Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has a single hundred in his recent 44 batting efforts. Konstas looks not quite a Test match opener and closer to the handsome actor who might act as a batsman in a Indian film. No other options has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks cooked. Harris is still oddly present, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their captain, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this seems like a unusually thin squad, short of command or stability, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, recently omitted from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a simplified, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I should bat effectively.”

Clearly, this is doubted. Probably this is a rebrand that exists only in Labuschagne’s own head: still endlessly adjusting that method from dawn to dusk, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will spend months in the practice sessions with advisors and replays, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. This is simply the quality of the focused, and the characteristic that has long made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging players in the cricket.

Wider Context

It could be before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a type of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s endless focus. In England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a player utterly absorbed with the game and magnificently unbothered by others’ opinions, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who treats this absurd sport with precisely the amount of odd devotion it requires.

His method paid off. During his focused era – from the instant he appeared to replace a concussed Steve Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in club cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his batting stint. As per Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a unusually large number of chances were missed when he batted. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before others could react to change it.

Recent Challenges

Maybe this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his signature shot, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, thinks a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his technique. Good news: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an evangelical Christian who thinks that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of accessing this state of flow, despite being puzzling it may appear to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has consistently been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a inherently talented player