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Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a perfectly browned of ideal crispiness, the bubbling cheese happily bubbling away. “Here’s the key technique,” he declares. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are going off. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an national team comeback before the Ashes.

You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to get through a section of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the “you” perspective. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the cold toastie. Boom, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go bat, come back. Perfect. Toastie’s ready to go.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the sports aspect to begin with? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may only be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third in recent months in all formats – feels significantly impactful.

Here’s an Australia top three clearly missing performance and method, exposed by the Proteas in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on some level you felt Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

And this is a plan that Australia need to work. The opener has one century in his past 44 innings. The young batsman looks less like a first-innings batsman and rather like the handsome actor who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood epic. No other options has shown convincing form. One contender looks out of form. Harris is still oddly present, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this seems like a surprisingly weak team, short of command or stability, the kind of built-in belief that has often given Australia a lead before a ball is bowled.

Marnus’s Comeback

Step forward Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the perfect character to restore order to a shaky team. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne now: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, not as intensely fixated with small details. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his century. “Less focused on technique, just what I must bat effectively.”

Naturally, this is doubted. Probably this is a fresh image that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still furiously stripping down that method from morning to night, going deeper into fundamentals than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the nets with advisors and replays, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the quality that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this very open England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a team for whom detailed examination, let alone self-analysis, is a risky subject. Go with instinct. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

For Australia you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the sport and totally indifferent by others’ opinions, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of odd devotion it demands.

His method paid off. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his time with Kent league cricket, teammates would find him on the game day resting on a bench in a trance-like state, literally visualising each delivery of his batting stint. Per Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before others could react to influence it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the time he achieved top ranking. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his signature shot, 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, reckons a focus on white-ball cricket started to erode confidence in his positioning. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an religious believer who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his task as one of accessing this state of flow, despite being puzzling it may look to the ordinary people.

This mindset, to my mind, has always been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a inherently talented player