🔗 Share this article

Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of pure toasted goodness, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “So this is the key technique,” he announces. At which point, he does something unexpected and strange.

By now, it’s clear a sense of disinterest is beginning to form across your eyes. The warning signs of sportswriting pretension are going off. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne hit 160 for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an Australian Test recall before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to endure a section of light-hearted musing about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the “you” perspective. You sigh again.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and heads over the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I actually like the grilled sandwich chilled. There, in the fridge. You let the cheese firm up, go for a hit, come back. Boom. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Okay, here’s the main point. Let’s address the sports aspect initially? Little treat for your patience. And while there may still be six weeks until the initial match, Labuschagne’s century against the Tasmanian side – his third of the summer in all formats – feels significantly impactful.

This is an Aussie opening batsmen seriously lacking consistency and technique, revealed against South Africa in the World Test Championship final, shown up once more in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.

And this is a plan that Australia need to work. Khawaja has one century in his recent 44 batting efforts. Sam Konstas looks hardly a Test match opener and closer to the attractive performer who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood epic. Other candidates has shown convincing form. Nathan McSweeney looks finished. Marcus Harris is still inexplicably hanging around, like moths or damp. Meanwhile their skipper, Cummins, is unfit and suddenly this feels like a unusually thin squad, lacking authority or balance, the kind of built-in belief that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.

Labuschagne’s Return

Here comes Labuschagne: a leading Test player as in the recent past, recently omitted from the one-day team, the perfect character to restore order to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne these days: a simplified, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, not as intensely fixated with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really stripped it back,” he said after his ton. “Not overthinking, just what I need to bat effectively.”

Of course, this is doubted. Probably this is a fresh image that exists only in Labuschagne’s own head: still furiously stripping down that method from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than any player has attempted. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the practice sessions with advisors and replays, completely transforming into the least technical batter that has ever been seen. That’s the quality of the focused, and the quality that has always made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging players in the sport.

Bigger Scene

It could be before this highly uncertain Ashes series, there is even a type of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s endless focus. In England we have a team for whom detailed examination, let alone self-analysis, is a kind of dangerous taboo. Feel the flavours. Stay in the moment. Smell the now.

On the opposite side you have a individual like Labuschagne, a man completely dedicated with cricket and totally indifferent by who knows about it, who sees cricket even in the moments outside play, who handles this unusual pursuit with exactly the level of quirky respect it deserves.

His method paid off. During his shamanic phase – from the time he walked out to substitute for an injured Steve Smith at Lord’s in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game on another level. To reach it – through absolute focus – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his time with Kent league cricket, teammates would find him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a meditative condition, mentally rehearsing every single ball of his time at the crease. Per Cricviz, during the initial period of his career a surprisingly high proportion of catches were spilled from his batting. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before fielders could respond to influence it.

Recent Challenges

It’s possible this was why his form started to decline the time he achieved top ranking. There were no new heights to imagine, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his favorite stroke, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s part of the same issue. Meanwhile his coach, Neil D’Costa, reckons a focus on white-ball cricket started to erode confidence in his alignment. Encouragingly: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an committed Christian who holds that this is all basically written out in advance, who thus sees his task as one of accessing this state of flow, despite being puzzling it may look to the rest of us.

This mindset, to my mind, has consistently been the main point of difference between him and the other batsman, a more naturally gifted player