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Labuschagne evenly coats butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he states as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He checks inside to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the gooey cheese happily melting inside. “So this is the key technique,” he declares. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, I sense a sense of disinterest is beginning to form across your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are blinking intensely. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to sit through several lines of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the second person. You feel resigned.

Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “Few try this,” he states, “but I genuinely enjoy the cold toastie. Boom, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go for a hit, come back. Alright. Toastie’s ready to go.”

Back to Cricket

Look, let’s try it like this. Let’s address the sports aspect out of the way first? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third this season in various games – feels importantly timed.

This is an Australian top order clearly missing form and structure, revealed against South Africa in the WTC final, shown up once more in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was omitted during that series, but on some level you sensed Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

Here is a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has one century in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks less like a first-innings batsman and closer to the attractive performer who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood movie. No other options has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks out of form. Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, Pat Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a surprisingly weak team, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of natural confidence that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as just two years ago, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the perfect character to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his hundred. “Not overthinking, just what I must bat effectively.”

Clearly, few accept this. In all likelihood this is a new approach that exists only in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that method from all day, going deeper into fundamentals than any player has attempted. Like basic approach? Marnus will spend months in the training with coaches and video clips, exhaustively remoulding himself into the least technical batter that has ever been seen. That’s the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing sportsmen in the game.

Bigger Scene

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable Ashes series, there is even a kind of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s endless focus. In England we have a side for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Live in the instant.

For Australia you have a individual like Labuschagne, a player utterly absorbed with cricket and totally indifferent 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 demands.

This approach succeeded. During his intense period – from the instant he appeared to substitute for an injured Smith at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game on another level. To tap into it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his stint in Kent league cricket, colleagues noticed him on the day of a match sitting on a park bench in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his innings. As per cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a unusually large number of chances were dropped off his bat. Remarkably Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to influence it.

Current Struggles

Perhaps this was why his performance dipped the time he achieved top ranking. There were no new heights to imagine, just a empty space before his eyes. Additionally – he stopped trusting his favorite stroke, got trapped on the crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, his coach, believes a attention to shorter formats started to undermine belief in his positioning. Positive development: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an committed Christian who believes that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may look to the mortal of us.

This, to my mind, has long been the primary contrast between him and Smith, a more naturally gifted player