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Marnus carefully spreads butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the key,” he states as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a toasted delight of ideal crispiness, the melted cheese happily melting inside. “And that’s the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

By now, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the Ashes.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about his performance. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to get through several lines of light-hearted musing about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and walks across the fridge. “Few try this,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Look, here’s the main point. How about we cover the sports aspect out of the way first? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s century against Tasmania – his third of the summer in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australia top three seriously lacking consistency and technique, shown up by the South African team in the WTC final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on one hand you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. 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. Sam Konstas looks less like a Test match opener and closer to the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has made a cogent case. McSweeney looks out of form. Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the 50-over squad, the right person to bring stability to a brittle empire. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a simplified, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I should score runs.”

Naturally, this is doubted. Probably this is a new approach that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still endlessly adjusting that technique from all day, going further toward simplicity than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. That’s the trait of the obsessed, and the trait that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the game.

Bigger Scene

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a sort of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a squad for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Live in the instant.

On the opposite side you have a individual like Labuschagne, a player completely dedicated with the sport and totally indifferent by others’ opinions, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who treats this absurd sport with precisely the amount of quirky respect it requires.

And it worked. During his shamanic phase – from the instant he appeared to substitute for an injured the senior batsman at the famous ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his time with English county cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game positioned on a seat in a focused mindset, mentally rehearsing all balls of his batting stint. As per cricket statisticians, during the first few years of his career a statistically unfathomable proportion of catches were dropped off his bat. Somehow Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before fielders could respond to influence it.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he lost faith in his signature shot, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to erode confidence in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an evangelical Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of achieving this peak performance, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the mortal of us.

This mindset, to my mind, has consistently been the main point of difference between him and Steve Smith, a inherently talented player