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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He opens the grill to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

At this stage, you may feel a sense of disinterest is beginning to appear in your eyes. The alarm bells of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about his performance. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to endure a section of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of self-referential analysis in the direct address. You feel resigned.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he states, “but I genuinely enjoy the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Alright. Toastie’s ready to go.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, here’s the main point. 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 first Test, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third of the summer in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Aussie opening batsmen seriously lacking form and structure, shown up by the Proteas in the WTC final, exposed again in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was dropped during that trip, but on a certain level you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a approach the team should follow. Usman Khawaja has a single hundred in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks hardly a Test match opener and rather like the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Indian film. No other options has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a unusually thin squad, lacking authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a match begins.

Marnus’s Comeback

Step forward Marnus: a leading Test player as in the recent past, just left out from the ODI side, the perfect character to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, no longer as intensely fixated with small details. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his century. “Not really too technical, just what I must bat effectively.”

Of course, this is doubted. Most likely this is a new approach that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still constantly refining that approach from dawn to dusk, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will take time in the nets with advisors and replays, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever played. This is just the quality of the focused, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating players in the sport.

Wider Context

Maybe before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a side for whom any kind of analysis, let alone self-analysis, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

In the other corner you have a player such as Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the game and magnificently unbothered by others’ opinions, who finds cricket even in the gaps in the game, who treats this absurd sport with just the right measure of quirky respect it deserves.

This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the moment he strode out to replace a concussed the senior batsman 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 pure determination – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing club cricket, fellow players saw him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a focused mindset, actually imagining all balls of his innings. Per cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a statistically unfathomable proportion of catches were dropped off his bat. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to affect it.

Current Struggles

Perhaps this was why his performance dipped the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his coach, D’Costa, reckons a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his alignment. Good news: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an committed Christian who thinks that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may seem to the ordinary people.

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