🔗 Share this article

The Australian batsman evenly coats butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the key,” he explains as he closes the lid of his grilled cheese press. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of delicious perfection, the melted cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the trick of the trade,” he explains. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

Already, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to cover your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are going off. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being widely discussed for an Australian Test recall before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to get through a section of wobbling whimsy about grilled cheese, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of self-referential analysis in the “you” perspective. You feel resigned.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I personally prefer the cold toastie. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go bat, come back. Boom. Toastie’s ready to go.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, here’s the main point. How about we cover the cricket bit out of the way first? Little treat 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 this season in all formats – feels significantly impactful.

We have an Australia top three seriously lacking consistency and technique, exposed by the South African team in the World Test Championship final, exposed again in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was omitted during that tour, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the perfect excuse.

This represents a plan that Australia need to work. The opener has one century in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks less like a first-innings batsman and more like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. Other candidates has presented a strong argument. Nathan McSweeney looks finished. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is unfit and suddenly this appears as a surprisingly weak team, short of strength or equilibrium, the kind of built-in belief that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as just two years ago, just left out from the ODI side, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a pared-down, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with small details. “I feel like I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his century. “Not really too technical, just what I should make runs.”

Naturally, few accept this. Most likely this is a rebrand that exists just in Labuschagne’s mind: still constantly refining that technique from dawn to dusk, going more back to basics than any player has attempted. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will take time in the practice sessions with trainers and footage, completely transforming into the simplest player that has ever been seen. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the sport.

The Broader Picture

Perhaps before this very open historic rivalry, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s endless focus. On England’s side we have a side for whom technical study, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Stay in the moment. Live in the instant.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a individual terminally obsessed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by who knows about it, who observes cricket even in the gaps in the game, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of absurd reverence it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the moment he strode out to substitute for an injured the senior batsman at the famous ground in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game with greater insight. To access it – through absolute focus – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his stint in Kent league cricket, fellow players saw him on the morning of a game positioned on a seat in a meditative condition, actually imagining all balls of his batting stint. According to cricket statisticians, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were missed when he batted. Somehow Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to influence it.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his career began to disintegrate the time he achieved top ranking. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, thinks a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his alignment. Positive development: he’s now excluded from the one-day team.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who holds that this is all preordained, who thus sees his job as one of achieving this peak performance, no matter how mysterious it may look to the rest of us.

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