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The Australian batsman evenly coats butter on both sides of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the key,” he states as he lowers the lid of his toastie maker. “Perfect. Then you get it crisp on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a toasted delight of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away. “And that’s the trick of the trade,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

By now, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of overly fancy prose are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the Ashes series.

You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to sit through several lines of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an extra unwanted bonus paragraph of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he states, “but I actually like the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go bat, come back. Alright. Toastie’s ready to go.”

The Cricket Context

Alright, let’s try it like this. Shall we get the sports aspect out of the way first? Quick update for reading until now. And while there may be just six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s hundred against Tasmania – his third of the summer in various games – feels significantly impactful.

Here’s an Aussie opening batsmen seriously lacking performance and method, shown up by South Africa in the WTC final, shown up once more in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was left out during that tour, but on one hand you gathered Australia were eager to bring him back at the earliest chance. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a approach the team should follow. The opener has just one 100 in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks hardly a Test match opener and closer to the good-looking star who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has shown convincing form. McSweeney looks finished. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their captain, the pace bowler, is unfit and suddenly this feels like a unusually thin squad, short of strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Step forward Marnus: a leading Test player as just two years ago, freshly dropped from the 50-over squad, the ideal candidate to bring stability to a brittle empire. And we are advised this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne now: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with small details. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I should bat effectively.”

Clearly, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a rebrand that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s personal view: still endlessly adjusting that technique from dawn to dusk, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the training with coaches and video clips, completely transforming into the least technical batter that has ever existed. This is simply the quality of the focused, and the trait that has always made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging cricketers in the game.

The Broader Picture

Maybe before this highly uncertain historic rivalry, there is even a sort of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a side for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a forbidden topic. Feel the flavours. Be where the ball is. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a man terminally obsessed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who finds cricket even in the gaps in the game, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of absurd reverence it demands.

This approach succeeded. During his shamanic phase – from the instant he appeared to come in for a hurt Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game on another level. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his days playing Kent league cricket, teammates would find him on the morning of a game resting on a bench in a meditative condition, literally visualising all balls of his time at the crease. According to cricket statisticians, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high catches were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to change it.

Recent Challenges

Perhaps this was why his performance dipped the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Additionally – he began doubting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to misjudge his positioning. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, his coach, believes a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his positioning. Good news: he’s now excluded from the 50-over squad.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of reaching this optimal zone, despite being puzzling it may seem to the mortal of us.

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