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The Australian batsman evenly coats butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s essential,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the trick of the trade,” he explains. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

Already, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of overly fancy prose are flashing wildly. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne made 160 runs for his state team this week and is being feverishly talked up for an national team comeback before the England-Australia contest.

You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to endure several lines of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of self-referential analysis in the second person. You feel resigned.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. Boom, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go for a hit, come back. Alright. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Look, to cut to the chase. How about we cover the cricket bit out of the way first? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s century against the Tigers – his third this season in various games – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Australia top three badly short of performance and method, shown up by South Africa in the WTC final, shown up once more in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on a certain level you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a approach the team should follow. Usman Khawaja has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. Konstas looks not quite a first-innings batsman and rather like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. One contender looks cooked. Harris is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, missing strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a ball is bowled.

The Batsman’s Revival

Enter Marnus: a leading Test player as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to bring stability to a shaky team. And we are told this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne these days: a simplified, back-to-basics Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with small details. “I believe I have really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Less focused on technique, just what I must bat effectively.”

Of course, this is doubted. In all likelihood this is a fresh image that exists just in Labuschagne’s personal view: still endlessly adjusting that method from morning to night, going more back to basics than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will spend months in the training with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever existed. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating cricketers in the cricket.

Bigger Scene

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable historic rivalry, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s endless focus. In England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with cricket and totally indifferent by others’ opinions, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of quirky respect it deserves.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to replace a concussed Steve Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game more deeply. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his stint in English county cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game positioned on a seat in a meditative condition, literally visualising all balls of his batting stint. Per the analytics firm, during the first few years of his career a unusually large number of chances were missed when he batted. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before others could react to influence it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the moment he reached the summit. There were no further goals to picture, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his trainer, his coach, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to erode confidence in his positioning. Good news: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

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

This approach, to my mind, has always been the primary contrast between him and Steve Smith, a inherently talented player