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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his toastie maker. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away. “So this is the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

By now, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to appear in your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne hit 160 for his state team this week and is being eagerly promoted for an return to the Test side before the Ashes series.

You likely wish to read more about his performance. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to get through several lines of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of self-referential analysis in the direct address. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I actually like the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go bat, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Alright, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the sports aspect to begin with? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australian top order clearly missing consistency and technique, shown up by the Proteas in the Test championship decider, exposed again in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was omitted during that tour, but on one hand you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has just one 100 in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks less like a Test opener and closer to the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this seems like a surprisingly weak team, short of authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as just two years ago, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the ideal candidate to bring stability to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne now: a streamlined, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with technical minutiae. “I feel like I’ve really stripped it back,” he said after his hundred. “Not really too technical, just what I need to score runs.”

Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists only in Labuschagne’s personal view: still endlessly adjusting that method from all day, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the training with coaches and video clips, exhaustively remoulding himself into the least technical batter that has ever been seen. That’s the quality of the focused, and the quality that has long made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing sportsmen in the sport.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a team for whom detailed examination, let alone self-analysis, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.

On the opposite side you have a individual like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with cricket and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who observes cricket even in the gaps in the game, who treats this absurd sport with just the right measure of odd devotion it deserves.

His method paid off. During his intense period – from the moment he strode out to come in for a hurt Steve Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his days playing club cricket, fellow players saw him on the game day positioned on a seat in a focused mindset, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his time at the crease. According to cricket statisticians, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high catches were missed when he batted. Somehow Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before fielders could respond to influence it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Additionally – he began doubting his cover drive, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his trainer, his coach, believes a focus on white-ball cricket started to undermine belief in his technique. 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 thinks that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has long been the main point of difference between him and the other batsman, a instinctive player