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Marnus methodically applies butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he states as he closes the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of ideal crispiness, the gooey cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the key technique,” he announces. 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 warning signs of elaborate writing are going off. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne made 160 runs for his state team this week and is being eagerly promoted for an return to the Test side before the Ashes series.

You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. 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 further tangential section of self-referential analysis in the second person. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a dish and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. There, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Look, let’s try it like this. How about we cover the match details to begin with? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against the Tigers – his third this season in all formats – feels importantly timed.

We have an Australian top order badly short of performance and method, revealed against the South African team in the World Test Championship final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that series, but on some level you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has one century in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks not quite a first-innings batsman and more like the attractive performer who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks cooked. Another option is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, the pace bowler, is injured and suddenly this appears as a unusually thin squad, lacking authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Step forward Marnus: a leading Test player as just two years ago, recently omitted from the one-day team, the right person to restore order to a brittle empire. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a simplified, no-frills Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with small details. “I feel like I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his century. “Less focused on technique, just what I need to bat effectively.”

Of course, nobody truly believes this. In all likelihood this is a new approach that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that technique from dawn to dusk, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with advisors and replays, completely transforming into the least technical batter that has ever been seen. That’s the quality of the focused, and the characteristic that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the game.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a side for whom technical study, let alone self-analysis, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.

In the other corner you have a player such as Labuschagne, a individual terminally obsessed with the sport and totally indifferent by public perception, who sees cricket even in the gaps in the game, who treats this absurd sport with exactly the level of quirky respect it requires.

And it worked. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to come in for a hurt Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game more deeply. To reach it – through absolute focus – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his time with Kent league cricket, fellow players saw him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a meditative condition, actually imagining each delivery of his batting stint. According to cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a unusually large proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before anyone had a chance to influence it.

Form Issues

It’s possible this was why his career began to disintegrate the time he achieved top ranking. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his signature shot, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, his coach, thinks a emphasis on limited-overs started to undermine belief in his positioning. Good news: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an religious believer who thinks that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, despite being puzzling it may appear to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has consistently been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a more naturally gifted player