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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a perfectly browned of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the key technique,” he explains. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

At this stage, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are blinking intensely. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne made 160 runs for his state team this week and is being eagerly promoted for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

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 endure three paragraphs of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the direct address. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I actually like the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go bat, come back. Alright. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Look, let’s try it like this. Shall we get the match details initially? Little treat for making it this far. And while there may still be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against the Tigers – his third this season in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

This is an Australian top order clearly missing consistency and technique, shown up by the Proteas in the WTC final, shown up once more in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he seems to have given them the perfect excuse.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has one century in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks hardly a Test match opener and rather like the handsome actor who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. One contender looks finished. Another option is still inexplicably hanging around, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a surprisingly weak team, short of command or stability, the kind of built-in belief that has often helped Australia dominate before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as in the recent past, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the perfect character to return structure to a brittle empire. And we are told this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, no longer as intensely fixated with technical minutiae. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his hundred. “Not really too technical, just what I must bat effectively.”

Of course, few accept this. Most likely this is a new approach that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from dawn to dusk, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone has ever dared. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever existed. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the quality that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating cricketers in the game.

The Broader Picture

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a type of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a team for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a player terminally obsessed with cricket and magnificently unbothered by who knows about it, who observes cricket even in the moments outside play, who handles this unusual pursuit with just the right measure of quirky respect it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his intense period – from the moment he strode out to substitute for an injured Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To access it – through pure determination – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his days playing club cricket, fellow players saw him on the day of a match positioned on a seat in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his time at the crease. According to Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high number of chances were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before anyone had a chance to influence it.

Form Issues

Maybe this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his favorite stroke, got stuck in his crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his coach, Neil D’Costa, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to erode confidence in his technique. Good news: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an religious believer who thinks that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of accessing this state of flow, no matter how mysterious it may look to the mortal of us.

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