🔗 Share this article

Marnus methodically applies butter on the top and bottom of a slice of plain bread. “That’s the secret,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on the outside.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, I sense a layer of boredom is beginning to appear in your eyes. The alarm bells of elaborate writing are blinking intensely. You’re no doubt informed that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland Bulls this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes series.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to get through three paragraphs of light-hearted musing about grilled cheese, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the “you” perspective. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a dish and moves toward the fridge. “Not many people do this,” he announces, “but I actually like the toastie cold. Done, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, head to practice, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, here’s the main point. Let’s address the match details to begin with? Small reward for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against Tasmania – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels quietly decisive.

We have an Australian top order clearly missing form and structure, exposed by 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 some level you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has a single hundred in his last 44 knocks. Konstas looks less like a first-innings batsman and closer to the handsome actor who might play a Test opener in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has made a cogent case. McSweeney looks out of form. Another option is still inexplicably hanging around, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their leader, Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, lacking strength or equilibrium, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a leading Test player as in the recent past, freshly dropped from the one-day team, the ideal candidate to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne these days: a pared-down, no-frills Labuschagne, not as intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really stripped it back,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I should score runs.”

Clearly, few accept this. Most likely this is a new approach that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that approach from all day, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. Prefer simplicity? Marnus will take time in the practice sessions with trainers and footage, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever existed. That’s the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has always made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the sport.

Wider Context

Maybe before this inscrutably unpredictable Ashes series, there is even a type of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. On England’s side we have a side for whom technical study, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.

For Australia you have a player such as Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who sees cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of absurd reverence it requires.

And it worked. 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 somehow managed to see the game on another level. To access it – through pure determination – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his days playing English county cricket, teammates would find him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a trance-like state, actually imagining every single ball of his time at the crease. Per Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a surprisingly high catches were dropped off his bat. Somehow Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before anyone had a chance to change it.

Current Struggles

Perhaps this was why his career began to disintegrate the moment he reached the summit. There were no new heights to imagine, just a boundless, uncharted void before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his signature shot, got trapped on the crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his trainer, D’Costa, thinks a attention to shorter formats started to weaken assurance in his technique. Good news: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who believes that this is all preordained, who thus sees his task as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may seem to the ordinary people.

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