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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he states as he lowers the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The alarm bells of overly fancy prose are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne scored 160 for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an Australian Test recall before the England-Australia contest.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about his performance. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to sit through three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, head to practice, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

Back to Cricket

Look, let’s try it like this. Shall we get the cricket bit to begin with? Small reward for your patience. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in various games – feels quietly decisive.

We have an Aussie opening batsmen badly short of form and structure, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was dropped during that tour, but on some level you felt Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. The opener has one century in his past 44 innings. The young batsman looks less like a Test opener and rather like the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has made a cogent case. Nathan McSweeney looks out of form. Marcus Harris is still surprisingly included, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their leader, the pace bowler, is injured and suddenly this seems like a unusually thin squad, lacking command or stability, the kind of built-in belief that has often given Australia a lead before a ball is bowled.

Marnus’s Comeback

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as recently as 2023, recently omitted from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a simplified, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Less focused on technique, just what I should score runs.”

Clearly, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a new approach that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s personal view: still furiously stripping down that approach from all day, going more back to basics than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the training with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the simplest player that has ever existed. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the trait that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing sportsmen in the cricket.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this very open Ashes series, there is even a kind of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a squad for whom technical study, especially personal critique, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a player completely dedicated with the sport and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who approaches this quirky game with precisely the amount of quirky respect it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his shamanic phase – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game on another level. To access it – through absolute focus – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his time with club cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a focused mindset, mentally rehearsing all balls of his batting stint. As per Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high number of chances were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before anyone had a chance to change it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the time he achieved top ranking. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his trainer, his coach, believes a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who holds that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, no matter how mysterious it may seem to the mortal of us.

This mindset, to my mind, has long been the main point of difference between him and the other batsman, a instinctive player