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Marnus evenly coats butter on both sides of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it golden on the outside.” He opens the grill to reveal a perfectly browned of pure toasted goodness, the gooey cheese happily bubbling away. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he explains. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

At this stage, I sense a sense of disinterest is beginning to cover your eyes. The warning signs of elaborate writing are flashing wildly. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne made 160 runs for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes series.

You likely wish to read more about that. But first – you now grasp with irritation – you’re going to have to endure several lines of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You groan once more.

He turns the sandwich on to a serving plate and moves toward the fridge. “Few try this,” he announces, “but I actually like the grilled sandwich chilled. Done, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go bat, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

On-Field Matters

Alright, let’s try it like this. How about we cover the sports aspect initially? Little treat for making it this far. And while there may only be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s hundred against the Tigers – his third in recent months in all formats – feels quietly decisive.

Here’s an Australian top order clearly missing form and structure, exposed by South Africa in the Test championship decider, highlighted further in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was left out during that trip, but on one hand you felt Australia were keen to restore him at the first opportunity. Now he seems to have given them the perfect excuse.

This represents a strategy Australia must implement. The opener has a single hundred in his last 44 knocks. The young batsman looks less like a Test match opener and more like the handsome actor who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood epic. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. McSweeney looks cooked. Another option is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, Pat Cummins, is injured and suddenly this feels like a weirdly lightweight side, short of command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often put Australia 2-0 up before a ball is bowled.

The Batsman’s Revival

Here comes Labuschagne: a world No 1 Test batter as in the recent past, just left out from the 50-over squad, the right person to restore order to a brittle empire. And we are told this is a calmer and more meditative Labuschagne now: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, less intensely fixated with technical minutiae. “I feel like I’ve really cut out extras,” he said after his century. “Not overthinking, just what I should score runs.”

Clearly, few accept this. In all likelihood this is a rebrand that exists just in Labuschagne’s personal view: still endlessly adjusting that approach from dawn to dusk, going more back to basics than anyone has ever dared. Like basic approach? Marnus will spend months in the training with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever played. This is simply the nature of the addict, and the trait that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating players in the game.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this inscrutably unpredictable historic rivalry, there is even a sort of interesting contrast to Labuschagne’s endless focus. On England’s side we have a squad for whom technical study, not to mention self-review, is a risky subject. Feel the flavours. Focus on the present. Smell the now.

In the other corner you have a player such as Labuschagne, a individual terminally obsessed with the sport and magnificently unbothered by public perception, who finds cricket even in the gaps in the game, who approaches this quirky game with just the right measure of quirky respect it requires.

This approach succeeded. During his shamanic phase – from the moment he strode out to replace a concussed Steve Smith at the famous ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game with greater insight. To tap into it – through absolute focus – on a different, unusual, intense plane. During his days playing English county cricket, colleagues noticed him on the game day positioned on a seat in a trance-like state, mentally rehearsing all balls of his time at the crease. As per the analytics firm, during the first few years of his career a surprisingly high catches were missed when he batted. Remarkably Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before others could react to influence it.

Current Struggles

Perhaps this was why his form started to decline the moment he reached the summit. There were no worlds left to visualise, just a empty space before his eyes. Also – to be fair – he began doubting his cover drive, got stuck in his crease and seemed to forget where his off-stump was. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his trainer, D’Costa, believes a emphasis on limited-overs started to weaken assurance 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 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, to my mind, has long been the primary contrast between him and the other batsman, a instinctive player