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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of ideal crispiness, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “Here’s the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

At this stage, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of overly fancy prose are going off. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne scored 160 for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an national team comeback before the Ashes series.

You probably want to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to sit through several lines of light-hearted musing about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the “you” perspective. You feel resigned.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy 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, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the cricket bit initially? Small reward for reading until now. And while there may only be six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third this season in all cricket – feels importantly timed.

This is an Australian top order clearly missing form and structure, revealed against the South African team in the WTC final, shown up once more in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on one hand you sensed Australia were eager to bring him back at the earliest chance. Now he seems to have given them the perfect excuse.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. The young batsman looks hardly a first-innings batsman and more like the attractive performer who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. Nathan McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is unfit and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of built-in belief that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the ODI side, the right person to bring stability to a brittle empire. And we are told this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne currently: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as 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 must make runs.”

Naturally, few accept this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that approach from morning to night, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever existed. This is just the nature of the addict, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging sportsmen in the cricket.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a type of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. For England we have a side for whom any kind of analysis, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Embrace the current.

For Australia you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the sport and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with precisely the amount of quirky respect it deserves.

And it worked. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to replace a concussed the senior batsman at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game with greater insight. To reach it – through pure determination – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his days playing club cricket, colleagues noticed him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a focused mindset, actually imagining every single ball of his batting stint. Per Cricviz, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high number of chances were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before fielders could respond to affect it.

Form Issues

It’s possible 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. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, his coach, believes a emphasis on limited-overs started to weaken assurance in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who holds that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his task as one of achieving this peak performance, no matter how mysterious it may seem to the ordinary people.

This, to my mind, has always been the key distinction between him and Steve Smith, a more naturally gifted player