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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on the top and bottom of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he tells the camera as he closes the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “So this is the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

Already, you may feel a sense of disinterest is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of overly fancy prose are blinking intensely. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure several lines of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the “you” perspective. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the grilled sandwich chilled. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, head to practice, come back. Boom. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Look, here’s the main point. Let’s address the sports aspect out of the way first? Little treat for making it this far. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s century against the Tasmanian side – his third this season in various games – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Australian top order seriously lacking form and structure, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, shown up once more in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was dropped during that tour, but on a certain level you sensed Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a plan that Australia need to work. Khawaja has one century in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks not quite a first-innings batsman and rather like the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. Other candidates has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, Cummins, is unfit and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, missing strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Step forward Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, just left out from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to restore order to a brittle empire. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, no-frills Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his century. “Less focused on technique, just what I must bat effectively.”

Of course, this is doubted. Probably this is a rebrand that exists just in Labuschagne’s personal view: still endlessly adjusting that approach from dawn to dusk, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with advisors and replays, exhaustively remoulding himself into the least technical batter that has ever played. That’s the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the sport.

The Broader Picture

Perhaps before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a type of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a side for whom technical study, let alone self-analysis, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

For Australia you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man terminally obsessed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who finds cricket even in the moments outside play, who handles this unusual pursuit with just the right measure of odd devotion it deserves.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the instant he appeared to substitute for an injured Steve Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game on another level. To reach it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his time with English county cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his batting stint. As per Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a unusually large number of chances were dropped off his bat. Somehow Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before fielders could respond to change it.

Form Issues

Maybe this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no further goals to picture, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Additionally – he stopped trusting his favorite stroke, got stuck in his crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, Neil D’Costa, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to weaken assurance in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the 50-over squad.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an religious believer who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of accessing this state of flow, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the rest of us.

This approach, to my mind, has always been the primary contrast between him and the other batsman, a instinctive player