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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he states as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on the outside.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling 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 glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The warning signs of overly fancy prose are blinking intensely. You’re likely conscious 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 cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to sit through three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the second person. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “Few try this,” he states, “but I genuinely enjoy the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Perfect. Toastie’s ready to go.”

On-Field Matters

Alright, to cut to the chase. How about we cover 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 century against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels quietly decisive.

This is an Aussie opening batsmen badly short of consistency and technique, revealed against the Proteas in the WTC final, shown up once more in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was omitted during that trip, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he seems to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks not quite a Test match opener and more like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. Other candidates has shown convincing form. Nathan McSweeney looks cooked. Another option is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, missing command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

Marnus’s Comeback

Here comes Labuschagne: a world No 1 Test batter as recently as 2023, recently omitted from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to restore order to a brittle empire. And we are advised this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne these days: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with small details. “I feel like I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I need to score runs.”

Of course, few accept this. In all likelihood this is a new approach that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still furiously stripping down that method from all day, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the practice sessions with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever played. That’s the trait of the obsessed, and the trait that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating players in the game.

Bigger Scene

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s endless focus. For England we have a side for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a risky subject. Go with instinct. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the game and magnificently unbothered by who knows about it, who finds cricket even in the moments outside play, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of absurd reverence it deserves.

This approach succeeded. During his shamanic phase – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Steve Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game more deeply. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his time with club cricket, teammates would find him on the day of a match sitting on a park bench in a trance-like state, literally visualising each delivery of his time at the crease. Per Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were dropped off his bat. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before others could react to influence it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the time he achieved top ranking. There were no further goals to picture, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to erode confidence in his alignment. Good news: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the rest of us.

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