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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the gooey cheese happily melting inside. “And that’s the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

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

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about that. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to get through a section of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the direct address. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “Few try this,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the toastie cold. Done, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go for a hit, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Okay, let’s try it like this. Let’s address the sports aspect out of the way first? Quick update for reading until now. And while there may only be six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s century against the Tasmanian side – his third of the summer in all cricket – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Australian top order seriously lacking consistency and technique, shown up by the Proteas in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that series, but on some level you sensed Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has a single hundred in his recent 44 batting efforts. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and rather like the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has made a cogent case. McSweeney looks cooked. Another option is still oddly present, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Pat Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a surprisingly weak team, short of command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often given Australia a lead before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a top-ranked Test batsman as recently as 2023, just left out from the 50-over squad, the ideal candidate to bring stability to a brittle empire. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne currently: a simplified, no-frills Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with small details. “I feel like I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I need to make runs.”

Of course, nobody truly believes this. Probably this is a new approach that exists only in Labuschagne’s own head: still endlessly adjusting that technique from all day, going more back to basics than anyone else would try. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the nets with coaches and video clips, exhaustively remoulding himself into the least technical batter that has ever existed. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the game.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this very open historic rivalry, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a squad for whom any kind of analysis, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with cricket and totally indifferent 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.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to substitute for an injured Steve Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game more deeply. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his stint in club cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game resting on a bench in a trance-like state, literally visualising all balls of his innings. Per the analytics firm, during the early stages of his career a unusually large proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. Somehow Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to change it.

Form Issues

Maybe this was why his performance dipped the time he achieved top ranking. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Furthermore – he lost faith in his cover drive, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, believes a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his positioning. Positive development: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may seem to the ordinary people.

This mindset, to my mind, has consistently been the primary contrast between him and the other batsman, a inherently talented player