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Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it golden on each side.” He opens the grill to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling cheese happily bubbling away. “And that’s the key technique,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

By now, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The alarm bells of overly fancy prose are going off. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the Ashes.

You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure several lines of playful digression about toasties, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the grilled sandwich chilled. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go bat, come back. Alright. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the match details out of the way first? Little treat for reading until now. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third of the summer in various games – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australian top order badly short of consistency and technique, exposed by South Africa in the World Test Championship final, highlighted further in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that tour, but on one hand you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the earliest chance. Now he appears to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a approach the team should follow. Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and more like the attractive performer who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. Other candidates has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks finished. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of natural confidence that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to return structure to a brittle empire. And we are informed this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne now: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, no longer as extremely focused with small details. “I feel like I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I should make runs.”

Of course, few accept this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still endlessly adjusting that technique from dawn to dusk, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the nets with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the quality that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the sport.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this highly uncertain Ashes series, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a individual like Labuschagne, a individual utterly absorbed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by others’ opinions, who finds cricket even in the moments outside play, who approaches this quirky game with just the right measure of quirky respect it demands.

His method paid off. During his intense period – from the time he walked out to replace a concussed Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To reach it – through sheer intensity of will – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his time with club cricket, teammates would find him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his innings. As per cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. Somehow Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to influence it.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his performance dipped the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his signature shot, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his coach, Neil D’Costa, reckons a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his alignment. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

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

This mindset, to my mind, has always been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a inherently talented player