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Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he states as he lowers the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, it’s clear a layer of boredom is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are blinking intensely. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne scored 160 for his state team this week and is being eagerly promoted for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

You likely wish to read more about that. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to endure several lines of light-hearted musing about grilled cheese, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of overly analytical commentary in the direct address. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and walks across the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he states, “but I actually like the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go bat, come back. Boom. Toastie’s ready to go.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the match details to begin with? Little treat for making it this far. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third of the summer in all formats – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Australia top three badly short of consistency and technique, shown up by the Proteas in the Test championship decider, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has one century in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and rather like the good-looking star who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a surprisingly weak team, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of natural confidence that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

The Batsman’s Revival

Enter Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as in the recent past, recently omitted from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to bring stability to a shaky team. And we are told this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne now: a streamlined, no-frills Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I should make runs.”

Naturally, few accept this. Probably this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from morning to night, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone else would try. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the practice sessions with trainers and footage, completely transforming into the simplest player that has ever been seen. That’s the nature of the addict, and the quality that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the sport.

The Broader Picture

Maybe before this inscrutably unpredictable historic rivalry, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s endless focus. On England’s side we have a team for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a forbidden topic. Go with instinct. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a player completely dedicated with the sport and totally indifferent by public perception, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of quirky respect it deserves.

His method paid off. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his time with club cricket, teammates would find him on the game day positioned on a seat in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his batting stint. Per cricket statisticians, during the early stages 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 influence it.

Current Struggles

Maybe this was why his performance dipped the moment he reached the summit. There were no further goals to picture, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he lost faith in his cover drive, got unable to move forward and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his trainer, D’Costa, believes a focus on white-ball cricket started to undermine belief in his positioning. Positive development: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his task as one of accessing this state of flow, no matter how mysterious it may look to the mortal of us.

This, to my mind, has long been the primary contrast between him and Steve Smith, a instinctive player