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In the early weeks of the 2014-15 season, rumblings emerged in the media of Cricket Australia considered the idea of a national draft.
The main goal behind this was the redistribution of wealth among the states, primarily in the form of players who are currently not being consistently selected for their state’s team.
While the draft was quickly shot down by critics, and appears to have been put on the backburner by Cricket Australia for now, an increase in player movement is a progressive goal for our governing body.
Every state in Australia currently has a number of players languishing in second 11s and grade cricket, performing strongly but unable to establish themselves in their Shield team.
With this in mind, we need to see an increase in player movement in 2015-16 and beyond, with more players packing their bags and heading north, south, east and west in search of greater and more consistent opportunities. Batting and bowling against the highest standard of opposition is the best way to ensure the assembly line of national cricketers continues to produce quality players.
Although leaving friends and family behind is no doubt a daunting prospect most players would probably prefer to avoid, there are plenty of cricketers who have flourished in a new state.
Ed Cowan took his talents down south, and rode a strong run of form all the way to Test selection. Chris Rogers moved east and continued plundering attacks until he forced the national selectors to pair him with David Warner at the top of the order. More recently, Peter George moved to Queensland after several frustrating years on the outer with the Redbacks, and has enjoyed a strong start to the season in his new state.
Looking around the benches of each state team at the start of the Shield season, there are a few prime candidates that rival states should be looking to entice across the border in the next year. My fellow Roarer Michael Frawley wrote that Victoria has to pick James Muirhead. While the young leggie is a great T20 prospect, he is in a queue behind Fawad Ahmed and Jon Holland, both of whom are candidates for national selection.
With this in mind, Muirhead may want to consider calling another state home for the next few years. Tasmania and Western Australia would certainly welcome a leggie of his calibre. Trent Copeland is another player who would be a great pick up for a number of states. The fast bowling rotation for NSW is a Packer-esque array of riches, but only three quicks can take the field for each game.
While a formal structure like a draft is perhaps an overly forceful approach to spreading resource wealth among the states, Cricket Australia should continue to consider ways of enticing players to take their talents to another state while still in their prime.
Home grown talent is a great bragging point, but winning games and titles is a outstanding result. Let’s hope more players take a risk, hop on a plane, and strengthen their careers and Australian cricket in the process.
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