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The Australian batsman methodically applies butter on each surface of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he states as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “Perfect. Then you get it golden on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of pure toasted goodness, the gooey cheese happily bubbling away. “Here’s the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

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 no doubt informed 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 his performance. 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 further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the “you” perspective. You groan once more.

He turns the sandwich on to a dish and walks across the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the cold toastie. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go for a hit, come back. Perfect. It’s ideal.”

On-Field Matters

Okay, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the cricket bit out of the way first? Quick update for your patience. And while there may still be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s hundred against Tasmania – his third of the summer in all cricket – feels quietly decisive.

This is an Australian top order badly short of consistency and technique, shown up by South Africa in the WTC final, highlighted further in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on a certain level you sensed Australia were keen to restore him at the soonest moment. Now he looks to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks not quite a Test opener and more like the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. One contender looks finished. Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this seems like a weirdly lightweight side, short of authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a game starts.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a top-ranked Test batsman as recently as 2023, just left out from the one-day team, the right person to bring stability to a shaky team. And we are informed this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, not as intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I should bat effectively.”

Of course, few accept this. Probably this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s mind: still furiously stripping down that method from morning to night, going deeper into fundamentals than anyone has ever dared. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will spend months in the practice sessions with coaches and video clips, thoroughly reshaping his game into the simplest player that has ever played. This is just the quality of the focused, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating players in the cricket.

Wider Context

It could be before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a sort of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a team for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Stay in the moment. Embrace the current.

In the other corner you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the sport and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who finds cricket even in the moments outside play, who treats this absurd sport with exactly the level of absurd reverence it deserves.

His method paid off. During his intense period – from the time he walked out to come in for a hurt Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to around the end of 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his stint in English county cricket, teammates would find him on the morning of a game sitting on a park bench in a focused mindset, mentally rehearsing all balls of his innings. As per cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a unusually large catches were missed when he batted. Somehow Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before anyone had a chance to affect it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the time he achieved top ranking. There were no new heights to imagine, just a unknown territory before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he lost faith in his favorite stroke, got unable to move forward and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his mentor, his coach, thinks a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his alignment. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a man of deep religious faith, an religious believer who holds that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, despite being puzzling it may appear to the ordinary people.

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