It is the “intensity” that was Labuschagne’s abiding memory from his first skirmishes in Ashes cricket over four Tests in 2019, when he followed up that half-century at Lord’s with another three half-centuries to help his side retain the urn.

“There’s nothing else like it,” he recalls. “The way I did and how it all happened was very out of the blue, but it’s very exciting that level of intensity in Test cricket.

“As a player, you want to be playing in the series against the best and you want the intensity and the pressure to be high.”

That Labuschagne replaced Smith on his Ashes debut was apt; the two are now firm friends, delighting in talking about the minutiae of batting.

“I’ve learned so much of batting off him in terms of the way he thinks about the game and the way he plays and he bats and his thoughts on that. 

“I’ve been able to incorporate some of those things in my own game, learning from the best. And I continue to do that, not just with Steve but with everyone – any opportunity you have talking to some of the greats of the game, if you’re able to take one or two things from everyone you’re going to learn a lot.”

‘I got a bit obsessive’

At times the challenge has been not in getting advice, but how to filter it. “You have to have that balance between choosing and picking information that’s right for you. If you don’t do that, you’re just going to become a big mixture of everything right? 

“You’ve just got to be very precise with the information you’re getting and make sure that you’re using it and able to add that to your game if that’s what you feel is necessary.”

During the start of his career, when his abundant talent only converted into middling returns at domestic and international level alike, Labuschagne searched for batting nirvana. 

“I think I just got a bit obsessive, trying to be the perfect batter. And I think that’s what sort of held me back in some sense, earlier in my career.”

Labuschagne credits a chat with his coach in 2019, shortly before the English summer, with galvanising his career. “One thing that always stayed with me was Neil D’Costa in 2019. 

“He just said to me, ‘look mate, we’ve worked on your technique for years and trying to put it all together, but nothing else matters now, now it’s runs. The only thing that matters is scoring runs. How you do it – no one cares right?’

“That’s something that’s quite obvious, but it was more that mental change from trying to be the perfect batter to really transferring. It doesn’t matter how I look or what I need to do. I just need to find a way to score runs in all conditions. Doing that in your own way was something that I definitely learned.”