Ben Hilfenhaus is in danger of becoming the forgotten man of Australian cricket this summer unless he can break the shackles of a worrying form slump.
Twelfth man for the two Tests against Sri Lanka, the Tasmanian swing bowler has all-but been written off as a fourth-pace option for the Boxing Day Test following the stunning return from injury of Shaun Tait.
He is also under mounting pressure to stay ahead of in-form Queensland allrounder Ashley Noffke and NSW duo Nathan Bracken and Doug Bollinger in the pace-bowling pecking order, after failing to recapture his remarkable form of last season.
Hilfenhaus surged into the national spotlight after taking 60 wickets in 2006/07 to pilot Tasmania to their maiden Pura Cup title. The former brickie’s labourer earned his first one-day international cap against England at Bellerive Oval in January.
But after establishing himself in the national set-up in recent months while touring with the Australia team at the Twenty20 World Championship and in India, Hilfenhaus has endured a horror start to the domestic season.
He has taken just eight wickets at the unflattering average of 66.25 midway through his fourth game for Tasmania, with a strike rate of one scalp every 19 overs.
Against Western Australia at Bellerive Oval this week, the stage seemed set for a Hilfenhaus comeback with the Warriors sent in to bat in ideal conditions for swing bowling.
Hilfenhaus started well enough, dismissing former Test opener Justin Langer from the fifth ball of the innings, caught at fine leg.
But from that point, he failed to make any further in roads, finishing with 1-138 from 31 overs, and even coming in for a bit of treatment from Test vice-captain Adam Gilchrist early on day two.
“I don’t reckon he’s bowling as well as he’d like too,” state coach Tim Coyle said.
“He’s probably just lacking a bit of pace at the moment and not hitting the wicket as hard as in the past.
“There’s certainly been some improvement since he’s got some more bowling under his belt, which he’s probably lacked at the start of the year.
“He hasn’t had a lot of time bowling out in the middle, being 12th man and not playing a lot of cricket when he was away with the Australian team … but I still think he’s got some improvement there.”
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Spiro Zavos said | December 6th 2007 @ 4:32am | Report comment
I watched Ben Hilfenhaus at the SCG when Tasmania played NSW. As he did at Perth he got an early wicket (Ed Cowan) and then struggled to make much impression. I thought he didn’t seem to swing the ball as much as I had expected him to. But then I don’t think the SCG is generally a swing bowler’s ground. It favour quickies who hit the pitch hard, like Glenn McGrath. Hilfenhaus seems to slide his deliveries along the pitch rather than banging them into it.
He also was used as a defensive bowler with 3 (offside)-6 (onside) field and 4-5 fields from periods of play. Nothing is more likely to disillusion bowlers more than having to bowl to fields that do not give them much chance of taking wickets.
Stoffy said | December 6th 2007 @ 4:56am | Report comment
Hilfy is already the forgotten man. He cant even make his way into the upcomming twenty20 squad and he’s one of the best bowlers in that form of the game. His tight line makes it difficult for batsman to score quickly and in his two matches he has taken 3 wickets with best figures of 2/16 and an impressive average of 16. You cant blame hilfy for this recent form drop, if anything its the selectors fault. Last year he performed amazingly well over all forms and was only rewarded in 1 one dayer and 2 twenty20′s. Being a Tasmania it makes me even more fustrated that two of the three selectors are Tasmanian (Boon and Cox). Hilfy, not matter what his recent stats say is still the man for the job!