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Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he tells the camera as he lowers the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Perfect. Then you get it toasted on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of ideal crispiness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he declares. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

Already, it’s clear a layer of boredom is beginning to appear in your eyes. The warning signs of elaborate writing are going off. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an national team comeback before the Ashes.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to sit through a section of light-hearted musing about grilled cheese, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the direct address. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he states, “but I personally prefer the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Alright. Toastie’s ready to go.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, let’s try it like this. How about we cover the sports aspect out of the way first? Small reward for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third this season in various games – feels quietly decisive.

We have an Australian top order seriously lacking performance and method, exposed by the South African team in the WTC final, exposed again in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was omitted during that tour, but on some level you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the soonest moment. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has just one 100 in his recent 44 batting efforts. Konstas looks less like a Test opener and more like the good-looking star who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. One contender looks cooked. Marcus Harris is still surprisingly included, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their captain, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, lacking command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

The Batsman’s Revival

Step forward Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as in the recent past, freshly dropped from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to return structure to a fragile lineup. And we are told this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, no-frills Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with small details. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I should bat effectively.”

Clearly, this is doubted. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that technique from morning to night, going more back to basics than anyone else would try. You want less technical? Marnus will devote weeks in the practice sessions with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever played. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing sportsmen in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable Ashes series, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s endless focus. For England we have a squad for whom detailed examination, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Trust your gut. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a player terminally obsessed with the sport and totally indifferent by who knows about it, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of odd devotion it requires.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt the senior batsman at Lord’s in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game more deeply. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his stint in Kent league cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing each delivery of his innings. Per cricket statisticians, during the early stages 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.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his favorite stroke, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, thinks a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may seem to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has always been the key distinction between him and the other batsman, a more naturally gifted player