🔗 Share this article

Marnus methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he brings down the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on the outside.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily melting inside. “So this is the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

At this stage, it’s clear a glaze of ennui is beginning to appear in your eyes. The warning signs of sportswriting pretension are going off. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being widely discussed for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

You probably want to read more about his performance. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to sit through three paragraphs of playful digression about toasties, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of self-referential analysis in the direct address. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I genuinely enjoy the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go for a hit, come back. Boom. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Look, here’s the main point. Let’s address the match details initially? Little treat for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in various games – feels importantly timed.

We have an Australia top three badly short of performance and method, shown up by South Africa in the Test championship decider, exposed again in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that tour, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the perfect excuse.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Sam Konstas looks less like a first-innings batsman and rather like the good-looking star who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. Other candidates has made a cogent case. One contender looks out of form. Harris is still surprisingly included, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, missing strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

The Batsman’s Revival

Here comes Labuschagne: a top-ranked Test batsman as just two years ago, just left out from the 50-over squad, the perfect character to return structure to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I should score runs.”

Clearly, few accept this. Most likely this is a rebrand that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still furiously stripping down that approach from dawn to dusk, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the nets with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever existed. That’s the nature of the addict, and the quality that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the cricket.

Bigger Scene

It could be before this very open Ashes series, there is even a type of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. In England we have a squad for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a individual utterly absorbed with cricket and magnificently unbothered by others’ opinions, who observes cricket even in the gaps in the game, who treats this absurd sport with precisely the amount of absurd reverence it deserves.

And it worked. During his shamanic phase – from the instant he appeared to replace a concussed Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game with greater insight. To tap into it – through pure determination – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in English county cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his batting stint. According to the analytics firm, during the initial period of his career a unusually large number of chances were dropped off his bat. Somehow Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before anyone had a chance to change it.

Current Struggles

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the time he achieved top ranking. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he stopped trusting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, believes a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his alignment. Positive development: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who thinks that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the rest of us.

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