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Three years ago, cricketer Alister McDermott looked on course to have a fine international career. Now, at the age of 24, the Queensland quick doesn’t even have a state contract. What the hell has happened?
The son of Australian pace bowling legend Craig McDermott, he made a remarkable start to his domestic career.
He debuted for Queensland aged 17, bowled his state to a Sheffield Shield final win at 20, starred for Australia A just months later, and was in the Australian ODI squad at the age of 21.
By the age of 22, he had 122 wickets at an average of 24 across first-class and List A cricket.
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At that stage, in 2013, McDermott’s name commonly was mentioned alongside the likes of Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson and Josh Hazlewood when discussion turned to Australia’s batch of elite young quicks.
Now Hazlewood is in the ICC Test Team of the Year, Starc is the best limited-overs bowler in the world, and Pattinson is wearing a baggy green with 64 Test wickets in the bank.
Meanwhile, McDermott is stuck in Brisbane grade cricket trying to claw his way back on to the domestic scene.
It now has been almost three years since McDermott played a 50-over match for Queensland and 14 months since his last Shield outing.
He apparently is fit and healthy, after a run of niggling injuries, yet when Queensland announced their 2015-16 contract list, they could not find a place for him in a massive squad of 26 players.
For a cricketer who was among Queensland’s four most valuable players by the age of 21, this is an extraordinary fall from grace.
McDermott had shaped as a potential three-format player for Australia. His bowling was very similar to his father’s – accurate outswing on a full length – but with a yard less pace.
Alister McDermott’s ability to curve the Kookaburra made him a particularly attractive prospect in white ball cricket.
So when Clint McKay, then Australia’s best limited-overs bowler, got injured in August 2012, Australia called up 21-year-old McDermott for the ODIs and T20s against Pakistan in the UAE.
He did not get a chance to make his debut but reportedly impressed his Australian teammates with his searching spells in the nets.
Then-chief national selector John Inverarity told the media McDermott had earned his spot on that tour, in part, through his stellar efforts for Australia A against Durham just weeks before.
Sharing the new ball with Starc against Durham, he had outbowled the lanky left-armer in snaring match figures of 6-76. That effort underlined that he was not just a limited-overs prospect but a fine red ball bowler.
This much had been clear months earlier when he turned in a match-winning performance in the Shield final. Batting first, Tasmania were cruising at 1-138 with star batsmen Ricky Ponting and Alex Doolan at the crease.
McDermott promptly turned the match on its head taking 3-3, including both Ponting and Doolan, en route to innings figures of 6-54. That startling effort pushed him into contention for a Test debut.
Yet, within 18 months, McDermott’s career had derailed and it remains well off track. This summer he is plugging away with Wynnum-Manly in Brisbane grade cricket and has taken 19 wickets at 23.
This would be a wonderful return in domestic or international cricket, but is not impressive in this competition, where 13 of the top 20 wicket takers are averaging less than 15.
That would suggest that McDermott may be hard pressed to get a Queensland contract again next season. It is an unlikely scenario for a cricketer who had the world at his feet at the age of 21.