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Marnus carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he tells the camera as he lowers the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it golden on the outside.” He checks inside to reveal a perfectly browned of pure toasted goodness, the gooey cheese happily bubbling away. “So this is the key technique,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, it’s clear a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The warning signs of overly fancy prose are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an return to the Test side before the Ashes.

You probably want to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to endure three paragraphs of playful digression about grilled cheese, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the “you” perspective. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and moves toward the fridge. “Few try this,” he remarks, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, let’s try it like this. How about we cover the cricket bit out of the way first? Quick update for your patience. And while there may only be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels importantly timed.

This is an Australia top three seriously lacking performance and method, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, exposed again in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that tour, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were keen to restore him at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a approach the team should follow. Khawaja has just one 100 in his past 44 innings. Sam Konstas looks hardly a first-innings batsman and more like the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has made a cogent case. One contender looks cooked. Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, missing strength or equilibrium, the kind of built-in belief that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Step forward Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as just two years ago, recently omitted from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to return structure to a shaky team. And we are advised this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne now: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with technical minutiae. “I believe I have really stripped it back,” he said after his hundred. “Less focused on technique, just what I should make runs.”

Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Probably this is a rebrand that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that technique from morning to night, going deeper into fundamentals than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will take time in the nets with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the simplest player that has ever played. That’s the nature of the addict, and the characteristic that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the sport.

Wider Context

Maybe before this very open Ashes series, there is even a type of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a team for whom technical study, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a man terminally obsessed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by others’ opinions, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who approaches this quirky game with precisely the amount of quirky respect it deserves.

His method paid off. 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 on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in club cricket, fellow players saw him on the game day positioned on a seat in a meditative condition, actually imagining each delivery of his time at the crease. According to cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high catches were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before fielders could respond to change it.

Current Struggles

It’s possible this was why his form started to decline the point he became number one. There were no further goals to picture, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got stuck in his crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, believes a attention to shorter formats started to erode confidence in his technique. Positive development: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, despite being puzzling it may seem to the mortal of us.

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