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The Australian batsman evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he explains as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it golden on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a golden square of ideal crispiness, the melted cheese happily melting inside. “So this is the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

Already, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are flashing wildly. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne hit 160 for his state team this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes series.

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 toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the direct address. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go bat, come back. Alright. It’s ideal.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, here’s the main point. Shall we get the sports aspect to begin with? Quick update for your patience. And while there may only be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tigers – his third this season in all cricket – feels significantly impactful.

Here’s an Aussie opening batsmen badly short of form and structure, revealed against the Proteas in the Test championship decider, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on one hand you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a approach the team should follow. The opener has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. Sam Konstas looks hardly a first-innings batsman and rather like the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. No other options has made a cogent case. One contender looks out of form. Another option is still surprisingly included, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a ball is bowled.

The Batsman’s Revival

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as in the recent past, recently omitted from the ODI side, the right person to return structure to a shaky team. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with technical minutiae. “It seems I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I must bat effectively.”

Clearly, this is doubted. Probably this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s mind: still furiously stripping down that approach from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than anyone has ever dared. Like basic approach? 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 just the quality of the focused, and the trait that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the sport.

Bigger Scene

Maybe before this very open England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a side for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Live in the instant.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a individual terminally obsessed with the game and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who treats this absurd sport with just the right measure of quirky respect it requires.

His method paid off. During his intense period – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Steve Smith 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 higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing club cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a focused mindset, actually imagining each delivery of his batting stint. According to cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a unusually large number of chances were missed when he batted. Somehow Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before others could react to change it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his cover drive, got trapped on the crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his trainer, Neil D’Costa, believes a emphasis on limited-overs started to undermine belief in his alignment. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who holds that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, despite being puzzling it may seem to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has always been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a more naturally gifted player