🔗 Share this article

The Australian batsman carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s essential,” he states as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Boom. Then you get it golden on each side.” He opens the grill to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “Here’s the key technique,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

At this stage, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to appear in your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are going off. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an national team comeback 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 three paragraphs of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the “you” perspective. You sigh again.

He turns the sandwich on to a dish and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I genuinely enjoy the toastie cold. Boom, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Okay, let’s try it like this. Shall we get the sports aspect out of the way first? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may still be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against Tasmania – his third of the summer in various games – feels importantly timed.

We have an Australian top order badly short of performance and method, shown up by the South African team in the World Test Championship final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was dropped during that tour, but on some level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the soonest moment. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

Here is a strategy Australia must implement. The opener has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and closer to the attractive performer who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. Nathan McSweeney looks out of form. Harris is still surprisingly included, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their skipper, the pace bowler, is unfit and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to return structure to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “I feel like I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I need to bat effectively.”

Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a rebrand that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from all day, 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 least technical batter that has ever existed. This is just the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating players in the game.

The Broader Picture

Maybe before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, let alone self-analysis, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a player utterly absorbed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by others’ opinions, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who treats this absurd sport with exactly the level of quirky respect it demands.

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 until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game with greater insight. 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 day of a match resting on a bench in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing all balls of his time at the crease. Per Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high number of chances were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before anyone had a chance to affect it.

Current Struggles

Maybe this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his favorite stroke, got stuck in his crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his coach, D’Costa, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to erode confidence in his alignment. Encouragingly: he’s now excluded from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who thinks that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of achieving this peak performance, despite being puzzling it may look to the ordinary people.

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