🔗 Share this article

The Australian batsman evenly coats butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he closes the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He checks inside to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

At this stage, I sense a sense of disinterest is beginning to form across your eyes. The warning signs of overly fancy prose are going off. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne made 160 runs for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an national team comeback before the Ashes series.

You probably want to read more about his performance. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to get through several lines of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of self-referential analysis in the second person. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the toastie cold. Done, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, head to practice, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, let’s try it like this. Let’s address the cricket bit initially? Small reward for your patience. And while there may only be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s century against Tasmania – his third of the summer in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australia top three clearly missing form and structure, revealed against the South African team in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on one hand you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the perfect excuse.

And this is a approach the team should follow. The opener has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and more like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. One contender looks out of form. Marcus Harris is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a surprisingly weak team, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as in the recent past, just left out from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are told this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with small details. “I believe I have really stripped it back,” he said after his century. “Less focused on technique, just what I need to score runs.”

Clearly, this is doubted. Probably this is a fresh image that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still constantly refining that technique from all day, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the nets with advisors and replays, exhaustively remoulding himself into the most basic batsman that has ever been seen. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the sport.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this very open Ashes series, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Go with instinct. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the sport and totally indifferent by public perception, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who handles this unusual pursuit with just the right measure of odd devotion it demands.

And it worked. During his focused era – from the moment he strode out to come in for a hurt Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his days playing Kent league cricket, colleagues noticed him on the day of a match sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, actually imagining all balls of his batting stint. As per cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a statistically unfathomable catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to affect it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the moment he reached the summit. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he lost faith in his signature shot, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, D’Costa, reckons a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his technique. Positive development: he’s just been dropped from the one-day team.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an evangelical Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may seem to the ordinary people.

This mindset, to my mind, has consistently been the main point of difference between him and Smith, a instinctive player