The Australian batsman carefully spreads butter on the top and bottom of a slice of soft bread. “That’s the secret,” he explains as he lowers the lid of his sandwich grill. “There you go. Then you get it crisp on each side.” He checks inside to reveal a perfectly browned of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily sizzling within. “And that’s the trick of the trade,” he declares. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.
At this stage, I sense a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of elaborate writing are going off. You’re likely conscious that Labuschagne made 160 runs for his state team this week and is being widely discussed for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes series.
You likely wish to read more about cricket matters. But first – you now realise with an anguished sigh – you’re going to have to sit through a section of playful digression about toasted sandwiches, plus an additional unnecessary part of self-referential analysis in the “you” perspective. You groan once more.
Labuschagne flips the sandwich on to a serving plate and moves toward the fridge. “It’s uncommon,” he announces, “but I actually like the grilled sandwich chilled. There, in the fridge. You allow the cheese to set, go for a hit, come back. Boom. Toastie’s ready to go.”
Back to Cricket
Look, to cut to the chase. Shall we get the sports aspect to begin with? Small reward for reading until now. And while there may still be six weeks until the series opener, Labuschagne’s 100 runs against the Tigers – his third in recent months in all cricket – feels significantly impactful.
We have an Aussie opening batsmen seriously lacking consistency and technique, shown up by the South African team in the WTC final, highlighted further in the Caribbean afterwards. Labuschagne was dropped during that series, but on one hand you sensed Australia were keen to restore him at the soonest moment. Now he looks to have given them the ideal reason.
This represents a strategy Australia must implement. Khawaja has one century in his past 44 innings. The young batsman looks not quite a Test opener and rather like the attractive performer who might act as a batsman in a Indian film. No other options has presented a strong argument. Nathan McSweeney looks out of form. Harris is still surprisingly included, like unwanted guests. Meanwhile their skipper, Pat Cummins, is hurt and suddenly this appears as a weirdly lightweight side, lacking authority or balance, the kind of natural confidence that has often helped Australia dominate before a match begins.
The Batsman’s Revival
Step forward Marnus: a leading Test player as recently as 2023, freshly dropped from the 50-over squad, the ideal candidate to return structure to a shaky team. And we are informed this is a composed and reflective Labuschagne currently: a streamlined, back-to-basics Labuschagne, no longer as extremely focused with minor adjustments. “It seems I’ve really simplified things,” he said after his ton. “Less focused on technique, just what I need to make runs.”
Naturally, nobody truly believes this. Most likely this is a fresh image that exists just in Labuschagne’s personal view: still constantly refining that approach from dawn to dusk, going more back to basics than anyone else would try. Like basic approach? Marnus will take time in the practice sessions with trainers and footage, exhaustively remoulding himself into the simplest player that has ever been seen. This is simply the trait of the obsessed, and the characteristic that has consistently made Labuschagne one of the most wildly absorbing players in the game.
Bigger Scene
Perhaps before this inscrutably unpredictable England-Australia contest, there is even a kind of pleasing dissonance to Labuschagne’s unquenchable obsession. On England’s side we have a side for whom detailed examination, especially personal critique, is a risky subject. Trust your gut. Focus on the present. Live in the instant.
For Australia you have a batsman like Labuschagne, a man utterly absorbed with the game and wonderfully unconcerned by public perception, who sees cricket even in the gaps in the game, who handles this unusual pursuit with precisely the amount of odd devotion it requires.
This approach succeeded. During his focused era – from the time he walked out to replace a concussed the senior batsman at Lord’s in 2019 to until late 2022 – Labuschagne was able to see the game with greater insight. To access it – through sheer intensity of will – on a elevated, strange, passionate tier. During his time with club cricket, fellow players saw him on the game day positioned on a seat in a focused mindset, literally visualising every single ball of his batting stint. According to Cricviz, during the first few years of his career a statistically unfathomable proportion of catches were missed when he batted. In some way Labuschagne had predicted events before anyone had a chance to influence it.
Form Issues
Perhaps 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 began doubting his signature shot, got stuck in his crease and seemed to lose awareness of his stumps. But it’s all the same thing. Meanwhile his mentor, Neil D’Costa, believes a focus on white-ball cricket started to weaken assurance in his positioning. Encouragingly: he’s recently omitted from the ODI side.
No doubt it’s important, too, that Labuschagne is a devoutly religious individual, an religious believer who thinks that this is all preordained, who thus sees his role as one of achieving this peak performance, however enigmatic and inexplicable it may appear to the ordinary people.
This, to my mind, has always been the main point of difference between him and the other batsman, a instinctive player
