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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he explains as he closes the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a golden square of ideal crispiness, the gooey cheese happily bubbling away. “Here’s the key technique,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, it’s clear a sense of disinterest is beginning to appear in your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to get through three paragraphs of light-hearted musing about toasties, 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 dish and moves toward the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he states, “but I genuinely enjoy the cold toastie. Boom, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go bat, come back. Boom. It’s ideal.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, let’s try it like this. Shall we get the cricket bit to begin with? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may only be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against the Tigers – his third this season in all formats – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Aussie opening batsmen badly short of performance and method, shown up by the South African team in the WTC final, shown up once more in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on a certain level you sensed Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the soonest moment. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

Here is a plan that Australia need to work. Khawaja has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. The young batsman looks less like a Test match opener and more like the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this appears as a unusually thin squad, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

The Batsman’s Revival

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as in the recent past, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the right person to return structure to a brittle empire. And we are advised this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne these days: a simplified, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with technical minutiae. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I need to score runs.”

Of course, this is doubted. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s personal view: still furiously stripping down that technique from dawn to dusk, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will take time in the nets with coaches and video clips, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever played. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the trait that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the game.

Bigger Scene

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable historic rivalry, there is even a sort of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a team for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.

For Australia you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by who knows about it, who sees cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of quirky respect it demands.

This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to substitute for an injured Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne was able 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, colleagues noticed him on the game day resting on a bench in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his innings. As per cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before anyone had a chance to influence it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a empty space before his eyes. Additionally – he began doubting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his mentor, D’Costa, thinks a focus on white-ball cricket started to erode confidence in his positioning. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the one-day team.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who believes that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the rest of us.

This approach, to my mind, has long been the key distinction between him and the other batsman, a more naturally gifted player