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The Australian batsman carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he states as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Perfect. 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. “And that’s the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, you may feel a sense of disinterest is beginning to cover 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 feverishly talked up for an return to the Test side 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 get through three paragraphs of light-hearted musing about toasties, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the “you” perspective. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a dish and heads over the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the toastie cold. Boom, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, head to practice, come back. Boom. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Okay, 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 still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s century against the Tigers – his third this season in various games – feels importantly timed.

This is an Australian top order seriously lacking form and structure, exposed by South Africa in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was omitted during that trip, but on one hand you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the perfect excuse.

Here is a strategy Australia must implement. The opener has a single hundred in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks not quite a Test opener and rather like the attractive performer who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood epic. Other candidates has shown convincing form. One contender looks finished. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their leader, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a unusually thin squad, lacking authority or balance, the kind of built-in belief that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as in the recent past, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the right person to return structure to a shaky team. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with technical minutiae. “It seems I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his hundred. “Less focused on technique, just what I should bat effectively.”

Clearly, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that technique from morning to night, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the nets with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the simplest player that has ever been seen. That’s the quality of the focused, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable historic rivalry, there is even a type of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a side for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Live in the instant.

In the other corner you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a player completely dedicated with the game and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who treats this absurd sport with precisely the amount of quirky respect it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his intense period – from the instant he appeared to replace a concussed Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game more deeply. To access it – through absolute focus – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his days playing club cricket, colleagues noticed him on the game day resting on a bench in a focused mindset, actually imagining every single ball of his batting stint. Per Cricviz, during the initial period of his career a unusually large catches were missed when he batted. Remarkably Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before others could react to influence it.

Current Struggles

It’s possible this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he stopped trusting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, reckons a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his alignment. Positive development: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an religious believer who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role 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 always been the main point of difference between him and Smith, a more naturally gifted player