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Marnus methodically applies butter on the top and bottom of a slice of white bread. “That’s the secret,” he tells the camera as he closes the lid of his grilled cheese press. “Boom. Then you get it golden on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a toasted delight of pure toasted goodness, the gooey cheese happily melting inside. “So this is the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

At this stage, it’s clear a layer of boredom is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of overly fancy prose are going off. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne hit 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to endure several lines of playful digression about toasties, plus an additional unnecessary part of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a serving plate and heads over the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I actually like the toastie cold. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, head to practice, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

On-Field Matters

Alright, here’s the main point. Shall we get the cricket bit to begin with? Small reward for making it this far. And while there may only be six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third of the summer in various games – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Australia top three badly short of consistency and technique, revealed against the Proteas in the Test championship decider, exposed again in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on one hand you felt Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the earliest chance. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. Usman Khawaja has a single hundred in his recent 44 batting efforts. The young batsman looks not quite a first-innings batsman and rather like the good-looking star who might portray a cricketer in a Indian film. Other candidates has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks finished. Another option is still oddly present, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, short of command or stability, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

Marnus’s Comeback

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as recently as 2023, recently omitted from the 50-over squad, the perfect character to restore order to a shaky team. And we are advised this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne currently: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with small details. “I feel like I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I must bat effectively.”

Clearly, this is doubted. Probably this is a new approach that exists just in Labuschagne’s mind: still endlessly adjusting that approach from all day, going more back to basics than anyone else would try. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will take time in the practice sessions with advisors and replays, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever been seen. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the characteristic that has long made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing sportsmen in the sport.

Wider Context

Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable Ashes series, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. On England’s side we have a side for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Trust your gut. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

For Australia you have a individual like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the sport and totally indifferent by others’ opinions, who observes cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with precisely the amount of absurd reverence it demands.

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 Cricket Ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To reach it – through pure determination – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his stint in English county cricket, colleagues noticed him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a meditative condition, literally visualising every single ball of his innings. According to Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high number of chances were spilled from his batting. Remarkably Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before others could react to influence it.

Recent Challenges

Maybe this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his cover drive, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his trainer, D’Costa, reckons a attention to shorter formats started to weaken assurance in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s just been dropped from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an evangelical Christian who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the ordinary people.

This approach, to my mind, has long been the key distinction between him and Smith, a inherently talented player