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Labuschagne methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he states as he closes the lid of his toastie maker. “There you go. Then you get it golden on both sides.” He opens the grill to reveal a perfectly browned of ideal crispiness, the melted cheese happily melting inside. “Here’s the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, it’s clear a sense of disinterest is beginning to cover your eyes. The alarm bells of overly fancy prose are flashing wildly. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne scored 160 for his state team this week and is being feverishly talked up for an return to the Test side before the Ashes series.

You probably want to read more about his performance. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to endure three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of tiresome meta‑deconstruction in the second person. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and walks across the fridge. “Few try this,” he states, “but I actually like the grilled sandwich chilled. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, head to practice, come back. Boom. It’s ideal.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, to cut to the chase. How about we cover the match details out of the way first? Small reward for your patience. And while there may only be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tigers – his third this season in all cricket – feels significantly impactful.

Here’s an Australia top three clearly missing consistency and technique, revealed against the South African team in the World Test Championship final, highlighted further in the West Indies after that. Labuschagne was dropped during that trip, but on a certain level you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the soonest moment. Now he seems to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a plan that Australia need to work. Usman Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks not quite a Test opener and closer to the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. Nathan McSweeney looks cooked. Harris is still surprisingly included, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their captain, Pat Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a unusually thin squad, missing command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a world No 1 Test batter as in the recent past, just left out from the ODI side, the perfect character to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as maniacally obsessed with small details. “It seems I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I need to score runs.”

Clearly, nobody truly believes this. Probably this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that technique from all day, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will spend months in the training with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever been seen. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the quality that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the game.

Wider Context

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable Ashes series, there is even a sort of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a team for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a risky subject. Go with instinct. Focus on the present. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the game and totally indifferent by public perception, who observes cricket even in the moments outside play, who treats this absurd sport with just the right measure of quirky respect it deserves.

And it worked. During his intense period – from the instant he appeared to replace a concussed Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game more deeply. To reach it – through absolute focus – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing English county cricket, teammates would find him on the morning of a game resting on a bench in a meditative condition, literally visualising each delivery of his batting stint. Per Cricviz, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had intuited what would happen before fielders could respond to change it.

Current Struggles

It’s possible this was why his career began to disintegrate the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Additionally – he lost faith in his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, D’Costa, reckons a emphasis on limited-overs started to undermine belief in his alignment. Encouragingly: he’s now excluded from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an committed Christian who holds that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may appear to the rest of us.

This approach, to my mind, has long been the main point of difference between him and the other batsman, a inherently talented player