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Marnus carefully spreads butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he states as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it golden on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away. “And that’s the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

At this stage, you may feel a glaze of ennui is beginning to appear in your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are blinking intensely. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being eagerly promoted for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to get through three paragraphs of playful digression about grilled cheese, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of overly analytical commentary in the direct address. You groan once more.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “Few try this,” he states, “but I personally prefer the toastie cold. Boom, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go bat, come back. Perfect. Toastie’s ready to go.”

On-Field Matters

Alright, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the match details initially? Quick update for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s century against Tasmania – his third this season in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

This is an Australian top order seriously lacking consistency and technique, revealed against the Proteas in the WTC final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that series, but on one hand you sensed Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the perfect excuse.

Here is a plan that Australia need to work. The opener has one century in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks not quite a first-innings batsman and more like the good-looking star who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. One contender looks out of form. Another option is still oddly present, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a surprisingly weak team, short of strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a ball is bowled.

Marnus’s Comeback

Here comes Labuschagne: a top-ranked Test batsman as just two years ago, recently omitted from the ODI side, the perfect character to restore order to a shaky team. And we are informed this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne these days: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with technical minutiae. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his century. “Less focused on technique, just what I must bat effectively.”

Naturally, this is doubted. In all likelihood this is a rebrand that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that technique from all day, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone else would try. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the training with trainers and footage, thoroughly reshaping his game into the most basic batsman that has ever existed. This is just the quality of the focused, and the quality that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the cricket.

Bigger Scene

Maybe before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s endless focus. On England’s side we have a side for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a forbidden topic. Go with instinct. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a individual utterly absorbed with cricket and wonderfully unconcerned by who knows about it, who observes cricket even in the gaps in the game, who treats this absurd sport with just the right measure of absurd reverence it demands.

And it worked. During his shamanic phase – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Steve Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To access it – through pure determination – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing English county cricket, colleagues noticed him on the day of a match sitting on a park bench in a trance-like state, literally visualising each delivery of his innings. As per cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a statistically unfathomable proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to affect it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the time he achieved top ranking. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his cover drive, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his coach, his coach, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to undermine belief in his alignment. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who holds that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his job as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the ordinary people.

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