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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it golden on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily bubbling away. “Here’s the key technique,” he explains. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

At this stage, it’s clear a glaze of ennui is beginning to appear in your eyes. The warning signs of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure a section of light-hearted musing about toasties, plus an further tangential section of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the second person. You sigh again.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a dish and moves toward the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he states, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go bat, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, to cut to the chase. Let’s address the sports aspect out of the way first? Small reward for reading until now. And while there may be just six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third in recent months in all formats – feels importantly timed.

We have an Australia top three clearly missing consistency and technique, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on some level you sensed Australia were keen to restore him at the earliest chance. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

Here is a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has one century in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks hardly a Test match opener and more like the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. One contender looks out of form. Another option is still surprisingly included, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Pat Cummins, is unfit and suddenly this seems like a unusually thin squad, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a ball is bowled.

Marnus’s Comeback

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as just two years ago, just left out from the 50-over squad, the right person to restore order to a shaky team. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I must score runs.”

Of course, this is doubted. In all likelihood this is a new approach that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with advisors and replays, exhaustively remoulding himself into the least technical batter that has ever existed. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. On England’s side we have a team for whom any kind of analysis, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Embrace the current.

For Australia you have a individual like Labuschagne, a player terminally obsessed with cricket and wonderfully unconcerned by who knows about it, who sees cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of quirky respect it deserves.

This approach succeeded. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to replace a concussed Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game with greater insight. To reach it – through absolute focus – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in Kent league cricket, colleagues noticed him on the morning of a game resting on a bench in a trance-like state, literally visualising all balls of his batting stint. As per cricket statisticians, during the first few years of his career a unusually large catches were missed when he batted. Remarkably Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before fielders could respond to change it.

Form Issues

Maybe this was why his form started to decline the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his cover drive, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his trainer, his coach, believes a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his technique. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an evangelical Christian who holds that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his role as one of accessing this state of flow, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may appear to the mortal of us.

This approach, to my mind, has always been the key distinction between him and Steve Smith, a inherently talented player