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Marnus methodically applies butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it toasted on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the trick of the trade,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of elaborate writing are flashing wildly. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an national team comeback before the England-Australia contest.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about toasties, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he remarks, “but I genuinely enjoy the grilled sandwich chilled. Boom, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go for a hit, come back. Alright. It’s ideal.”

Back to Cricket

Look, to cut to the chase. Let’s address the cricket bit to begin with? Quick update for reading until now. And while there may only be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against the Tasmanian side – his third in recent months in various games – feels quietly decisive.

We have an Australian top order clearly missing form and structure, revealed against the Proteas in the WTC final, highlighted further in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on some level you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the soonest moment. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. The opener has one century in his past 44 innings. Sam Konstas looks hardly a Test opener and closer to the good-looking star who might play a Test opener in a Indian film. Other candidates has presented a strong argument. Nathan McSweeney looks cooked. Harris is still surprisingly included, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is unfit and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, missing strength or equilibrium, the kind of built-in belief that has often given Australia a lead before a game starts.

Marnus’s Comeback

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as in the recent past, 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 calmer and more meditative Labuschagne these days: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I should score runs.”

Of course, nobody truly believes this. In all likelihood this is a fresh image that exists just in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that approach from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than anyone has ever dared. Like basic approach? Marnus will devote weeks in the training with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever played. This is just the nature of the addict, and the trait that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing cricketers in the sport.

Bigger Scene

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s endless focus. In England we have a squad for whom any kind of analysis, let alone self-analysis, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a individual like Labuschagne, a individual utterly absorbed with the sport 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 odd devotion it deserves.

This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to substitute for an injured the senior batsman at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game on another level. To access it – through absolute focus – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his time with English county cricket, teammates would find him on the morning of a game resting on a bench in a focused mindset, actually imagining every single ball of his batting stint. As per cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a statistically unfathomable proportion of catches were missed when he batted. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to change it.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his cover drive, got trapped on the crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, believes a attention to shorter formats started to weaken assurance in his alignment. Good news: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of accessing this state of flow, no matter how mysterious it may seem to the mortal of us.

This approach, to my mind, has consistently been the main point of difference between him and Steve Smith, a instinctive player