🔗 Share this article

The Australian batsman methodically applies butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a golden square of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily bubbling away. “Here’s the secret method,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, it’s clear a sense of disinterest is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of overly fancy prose are blinking intensely. 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.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about his performance. 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 further tangential section of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the direct address. You feel resigned.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a serving plate and moves toward the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. There, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go bat, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, here’s the main point. Let’s address the cricket bit to begin with? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Aussie opening batsmen clearly missing performance and method, shown up by South Africa in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on some level you gathered Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the ideal reason.

This represents a approach the team should follow. Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks less like a Test match opener and more like the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks finished. Another option is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a surprisingly weak team, lacking command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Marnus’s Comeback

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, just left out from the one-day team, the perfect character to return structure to a shaky team. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, no-frills Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Less focused on technique, just what I must make runs.”

Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists just in Labuschagne’s personal view: still constantly refining that approach from dawn to dusk, going deeper into fundamentals than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will take time in the training with trainers and footage, completely transforming into the most basic batsman that has ever existed. That’s the nature of the addict, and the quality that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating cricketers in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a sort of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s endless focus. On England’s side we have a squad for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a individual utterly absorbed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who sees cricket even in the gaps in the game, who approaches this quirky game with exactly the level of odd devotion it requires.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to come in for a hurt the senior batsman at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his days playing club cricket, teammates would find him on the game day positioned on a seat in a trance-like state, literally visualising all balls of his time at the crease. As per cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high catches were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to influence it.

Form Issues

Perhaps this was why his performance dipped the point he became number one. There were no further goals to picture, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Additionally – he stopped trusting his cover drive, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, D’Costa, thinks a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an committed Christian who thinks that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his task as one of reaching this optimal zone, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the rest of us.

This mindset, to my mind, has consistently been the main point of difference between him and Smith, a more naturally gifted player