🔗 Share this article

Marnus methodically applies butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he states as he brings down the lid of his toastie maker. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a perfectly browned of delicious perfection, the bubbling cheese happily sizzling within. “Here’s the secret method,” he explains. At which point, he does something shocking and odd.

By now, you may feel a layer of boredom is beginning to appear in your eyes. The warning signs of sportswriting pretension are blinking intensely. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland Bulls this week and is being widely discussed for an return to the Test side before the England-Australia contest.

You probably want to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to get through three paragraphs of wobbling whimsy about toasted sandwiches, plus an further tangential section of overly analytical commentary in the second person. You feel resigned.

He turns the sandwich on to a dish and moves toward the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I actually like the toastie cold. There, in the fridge. You get that cheese to harden up, go bat, come back. Perfect. Sandwich is perfect.”

Back to Cricket

Alright, let’s try it like this. Let’s address the cricket bit initially? Quick update for making it this far. And while there may be just six weeks until the first Test, Labuschagne’s century against Tasmania – his third this season in various games – feels importantly timed.

Here’s an Australia top three badly short of performance and method, exposed by South Africa in the WTC final, shown up once more in the following Caribbean tour. Labuschagne was dropped during that tour, but on one hand you felt Australia were eager to bring him back at the soonest moment. Now he appears to have given them the right opportunity.

And this is a approach the team should follow. Khawaja has a single hundred in his past 44 innings. Konstas looks not quite a Test match opener and more like the handsome actor who might portray a cricketer in a Bollywood movie. None of the alternatives has presented a strong argument. One contender looks finished. Another option is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their leader, Pat Cummins, is unfit and suddenly this appears as a unusually thin squad, lacking command or stability, the kind of natural confidence that has often given Australia a lead before a ball is bowled.

Labuschagne’s Return

Enter Marnus: a leading Test player as just two years ago, just left out from the 50-over squad, the ideal candidate to return structure to a fragile lineup. And we are advised this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a simplified, back-to-basics Labuschagne, less maniacally obsessed with minor adjustments. “I believe I have really cut out extras,” he said after his ton. “Not really too technical, just what I must score runs.”

Clearly, few accept this. Probably this is a fresh image that exists entirely in Labuschagne’s personal view: still constantly refining that technique from morning to night, going further toward simplicity than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the training with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever existed. This is simply the quality of the focused, and the quality that has long made Labuschagne one of the deeply fascinating sportsmen in the game.

The Broader Picture

It could be before this highly uncertain England-Australia contest, there is even a type of appealing difference to Labuschagne’s constant dedication. In England we have a side for whom technical study, especially personal critique, is a forbidden topic. Trust your gut. Focus on the present. Embrace the current.

In the other corner you have a individual like Labuschagne, a player terminally obsessed with the game and totally indifferent by who knows about it, who finds cricket even in the gaps in the game, who approaches this quirky game with just the right measure of odd devotion it deserves.

His method paid off. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to substitute for an injured the senior batsman at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2019 to through 2022 – Labuschagne somehow managed to see the game with greater insight. To reach it – through absolute focus – on a higher, weirder, more frenzied level. During his stint in Kent league cricket, fellow players saw him on the game day sitting on a park bench in a focused mindset, literally visualising each delivery of his time at the crease. According to cricket statisticians, during the early stages of his career a unusually large proportion of catches were dropped off his bat. In some way Labuschagne had anticipated outcomes before others could react to affect 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. Also – to be fair – he stopped trusting 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, D’Costa, believes a attention to shorter formats started to weaken assurance in his technique. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the one-day team.

Certainly it’s relevant, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an committed Christian who thinks that this is all predetermined, who thus sees his job as one of reaching this optimal zone, no matter how mysterious it may appear to the mortal of us.

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