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Marnus evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s essential,” he explains as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it golden on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a toasted delight of ideal crispiness, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

By now, I sense a sense of disinterest is beginning to appear in your eyes. The warning signs of elaborate writing are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being eagerly promoted for an Australian Test recall before the England-Australia contest.

You likely wish to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to sit through several lines of wobbling whimsy about toasties, plus an additional unnecessary part of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the “you” perspective. You sigh again.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he states, “but I personally prefer the toastie cold. Boom, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Alright. Toastie’s ready to go.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, let’s try it like this. How about we cover the cricket bit to begin with? Small reward for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Australia top three seriously lacking form and structure, shown up by the South African team in the WTC final, highlighted further in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on some level you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the right opportunity.

Here is a plan that Australia need to work. Khawaja has one century in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks less like a first-innings batsman and more like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks out of form. Harris is still oddly present, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their captain, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, lacking command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often helped Australia dominate before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as in the recent past, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to return structure to a brittle empire. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne currently: a simplified, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “I feel like I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his hundred. “Not overthinking, just what I should bat effectively.”

Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Probably this is a rebrand that exists only in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from all day, going more back to basics than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will devote weeks in the practice sessions with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the least technical batter that has ever been seen. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the quality that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the sport.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a type of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. For England we have a side for whom any kind of analysis, let alone self-analysis, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Go with instinct. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a individual terminally obsessed with cricket and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of quirky respect it demands.

His method paid off. During his intense period – from the time he walked out to replace a concussed Steve Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his time with club cricket, fellow players saw him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his batting stint. According to Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a unusually large catches were missed when he batted. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to affect it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his performance dipped the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to undermine belief in his positioning. Good news: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

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 reaching this optimal zone, despite being puzzling it may look to the mortal of us.

This, to my mind, has always been the main point of difference between him and Steve Smith, a instinctive player