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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he lowers the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it golden on the outside.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

By now, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The warning signs of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland 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 realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to get through a section of light-hearted musing about toasties, plus an further tangential section 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. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the toastie cold. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, to cut to the chase. Let’s address the cricket bit initially? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may only be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s century against the Tasmanian side – his third this season in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australian top order clearly missing consistency and technique, exposed by the South African team in the World Test Championship final, shown up once more in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that series, but on one hand you sensed Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

Here is a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has one century in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks hardly a first-innings batsman and closer to the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. Other candidates has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks out of form. Another option is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their leader, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of built-in belief that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Step forward Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the 50-over squad, the right person to return structure to a fragile lineup. And we are told this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne now: a pared-down, back-to-basics Labuschagne, no longer as intensely fixated with small details. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I need to bat effectively.”

Clearly, few accept this. Most likely this is a new approach that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still endlessly adjusting that technique from all day, going deeper into fundamentals than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the practice sessions with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the quality that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging cricketers in the game.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a sort of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a team for whom any kind of analysis, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Go with instinct. Focus on the present. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a player utterly absorbed with the sport and wonderfully unconcerned by who knows about it, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who treats this absurd sport with precisely the amount of odd devotion it deserves.

This approach succeeded. During his intense period – from the time he walked out to replace a concussed Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game more deeply. To tap into it – through pure determination – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing club cricket, colleagues noticed him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a focused mindset, literally visualising all balls of his batting stint. According to cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before fielders could respond to change it.

Form Issues

Maybe this was why his performance dipped the moment he reached the summit. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in 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, Neil D’Costa, reckons a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his positioning. Positive development: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an evangelical Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the rest of us.

This mindset, to my mind, has long been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a instinctive player