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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his toastie maker. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on the outside.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “Here’s the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

At this stage, you may feel a sense of disinterest is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of overly fancy prose are flashing wildly. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the direct address. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the toastie cold. There, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

Back to Cricket

Look, to cut to the chase. How about we cover the sports aspect to begin with? Little treat for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tigers – his third of the summer in all formats – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Australia top three seriously lacking consistency and technique, revealed against South Africa in the World Test Championship final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on some level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a plan that Australia need to work. The opener has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. The young batsman looks not quite a Test match opener and closer to the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. Other candidates has made a cogent case. One contender looks finished. Another option is still surprisingly included, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is unfit and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Marnus’s Comeback

Enter Marnus: a leading Test player as in the recent past, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with small details. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Less focused on technique, just what I should score runs.”

Of course, this is doubted. Probably this is a rebrand that exists only in Labuschagne’s own head: still constantly refining that approach from morning to night, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will devote weeks in the nets with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the least technical batter that has ever existed. This is just the quality of the focused, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the sport.

Wider Context

Maybe before this very open England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a squad for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who finds cricket even in the moments outside play, who handles this unusual pursuit with precisely the amount of quirky respect it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the instant he appeared to replace a concussed the senior batsman at the famous 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 elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in Kent league cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a trance-like state, actually imagining all balls of his batting stint. Per cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a unusually large number of chances were spilled from his batting. Remarkably Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before others could react to affect it.

Recent Challenges

Maybe this was why his performance dipped the time he achieved top ranking. There were no further goals to picture, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his signature shot, got trapped on the crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, D’Costa, thinks a focus on white-ball cricket started to erode confidence in his positioning. Positive development: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

Surely it matters, 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 reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may look to the rest of us.

This, to my mind, has long been the main point of difference between him and Steve Smith, a inherently talented player