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Marnus evenly coats butter on each surface of a slice of white bread. “That’s essential,” he states as he closes the lid of his sandwich grill. “Perfect. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a toasted delight of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “So this is the secret method,” he announces. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

By now, I sense a sense of disinterest is beginning to cover your eyes. The red lights of elaborate writing are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being feverishly talked up for an national team comeback before the Ashes series.

No doubt you’d prefer to read more about that. But first – you now understand with frustration – you’re going to have to sit through a section of playful digression about grilled cheese, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You groan once more.

Marnus transfers the sandwich on to a plate and moves toward the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I genuinely enjoy the toastie cold. There, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go for a hit, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

The Cricket Context

Okay, here’s the main point. How about we cover the sports aspect initially? Small reward for your patience. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tigers – his third of the summer in various games – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Aussie opening batsmen clearly missing performance and method, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, highlighted further in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was omitted during that trip, but on a certain level you gathered Australia were desperate to rehabilitate him at the first opportunity. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

This represents a approach the team should follow. Usman Khawaja has a single hundred in his past 44 innings. Sam Konstas looks not quite a Test match opener and more like the good-looking star who might act as a batsman in a Bollywood epic. Other candidates has shown convincing form. Nathan McSweeney looks out of form. Marcus Harris is still surprisingly included, like dust or mold. Meanwhile their captain, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this feels like a surprisingly weak team, missing authority or balance, the kind of effortless self-assurance that has often given Australia a lead before a match begins.

Marnus’s Comeback

Enter Marnus: a top-ranked Test batsman as in the recent past, recently omitted from the one-day team, the perfect character to bring stability to a fragile lineup. And we are informed this is a more relaxed and thoughtful Labuschagne now: a simplified, fundamental-focused Labuschagne, no longer as maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I should make runs.”

Naturally, few accept this. Most likely this is a rebrand that exists just in Labuschagne’s own head: still constantly refining that technique from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than anyone else would try. You want less technical? Marnus will spend months in the practice sessions with trainers and footage, thoroughly reshaping his game into the least technical batter that has ever played. That’s the quality of the focused, and the quality that has long made Labuschagne one of the highly engaging players in the cricket.

Bigger Scene

Perhaps before this very open England-Australia contest, there is even a sort of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. For England we have a side for whom detailed examination, let alone self-analysis, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

On the opposite side you have a player such as Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by others’ opinions, who finds cricket even in the spaces between the cricket, who treats this absurd sport with exactly the level of absurd reverence it deserves.

And it worked. During his intense period – from the moment he strode out to substitute for an injured Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne found a way to see the game with greater insight. To tap into it – through absolute focus – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his time with club cricket, colleagues noticed him on the day of a match resting on a bench in a trance-like state, actually imagining each delivery of his innings. Per Cricviz, during the early stages of his career a statistically unfathomable number of chances were missed when he batted. Somehow Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to influence it.

Current Struggles

Maybe this was why his performance dipped the point he became number one. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Furthermore – he began doubting his signature shot, got unable to move forward and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s connected really. Meanwhile his trainer, Neil D’Costa, reckons a focus on white-ball cricket started to undermine belief in his technique. Good news: he’s just been dropped from the ODI side.

Surely it matters, too, that Labuschagne is a strongly faithful person, an committed Christian who believes 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 appear to the ordinary people.

This mindset, to my mind, has long been the main point of difference between him and Steve Smith, a more naturally gifted player