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With Australia to play 10 Tests over the next five months we could see some significant movement in the Test XI over that period. Here are three young players to watch in the Sheffield Shield, which kicked off this week.
Roarers who are the young State cricketers you believe could push their cases for higher honours over the course of this Sheffield Shield season?
Hilton Cartwright (24 years old) – competing with Mitchell Marsh – (First-class record: 657 runs at 51, plus 11 wickets at 34)
The Australian selectors’ preference to field a batting all-rounder in the top six of the Test team means Cartwright may well come into contention if he excels again this Shield season. He made his first-class debut three years ago but did not become a regular member of the WA side until last summer.
He is coming off a fantastic Shield season in which he made 408 runs at 68 to go with eight wickets at 27 from his six matches. Cartwright duly flourished when given the chance to represent Australia A against India A in September.
On a lively pitch at Allan Border Oval, 14 wickets had fallen for just 297 runs when Cartwright came to the crease. With Australia A under pressure at 4-128, Cartwright calmly peeled off 117, helping steer them to 435. He underlined his all-round ability by taking 1-33 from 12 overs in that match with his accurate medium pace.
Cartwright has made a fine start to the current Shield season. In the opening round against South Australia, he rescued WA from 4-107, compiling a neat 80 in the second dig. Cartwright is not a bits-and-pieces player – he is a genuine top six batsman with a tight technique and admirable temperament who also happens to be a very handy fifth bowling option.
In fact, were it not for the strength of WA’s batting reserves, Cartwright would be capable of batting as high as first drop. He can be a dynamic strokemaker, but typically looks to work his way into an innings before unfurling his full range of shots.
Kurtis Patterson (23yo) – competing with Adam Voges – (2098 runs at 43)
Since the start of last summer, Patterson has made 1133 runs at 57 in first-class cricket. He had a breakout Shield season last summer, backed that up with striking displays for Australia A over the winter, and started this Shield campaign with a double of 111 and 38.
The compact left-hander spent a few years treading water after becoming the youngest-ever batsman to score a Shield century, aged 18, when he cracked 157 on debut in 2011.
I have not spotted any clear weakness in Patterson’s game. He plays off the front and back foot with equal ease. He is very still and well balanced at the point of impact. He judges length swiftly, often sending his pull shots to the boundary well in front of square.
Patterson also is assured against spin, regularly using his quick feet to get to the pitch of the ball. In the first-class matches against South Africa A in August, he repeatedly skipped down the track to dispatch Test spinner Dane Piedt to the straight boundary.
Against a talented South African attack which also featured Test seamer Vernon Philander, Patterson made three half centuries from four digs, finishing the series with 222 runs at 74. If Adam Voges struggles this summer, Patterson should be a leading candidate to replace him in the middle order of the Test team.
Ashton Agar (23 years old) – competing with Steve O’Keefe and Mitchell Marsh (101 wickets at 41, plus 1377 runs at 28)
The looming tour of India could put Agar back on the radar of the Australian selectors. By now you’re well and truly familiar with the expansive gifts of Agar. Picked for his Test debut as a 19-year-old spinner, he took everyone by surprise as he made an exquisite 98 in his first knock.
Since that innings there has been healthy debate among cricket fans as to whether Agar will end up as a specialist spinner, whose batting is a bonus, or as a batting all-rounder who offers a valuable fifth bowling option.
Initially it looked like the former situation was most likely. But over the past year his batting has come to the fore, with just under 400 runs at 36 from his past seven Shield matches, including two centuries. At the same time, Agar has laboured with the ball – he took only nine wickets last Shield season, although he started this Shield campaign with 3-70 against South Australia.
At 23 years of age Agar is still very young for a spinner and most likely won’t approach his peak as a bowler for another five or six years. However, he could find himself in line for the Test tour of India if he was a good all-round Shield season. Agar highlighted on debut how comfortable he is batting against spin, flaying gun England offie Graeme Swann, who was dominant in that Ashes series.
I won’t be surprised if the selectors are considering Agar as a potential alternative to either Mitch Marsh or Steve O’Keefe in India, depending on which of his skills flourishes the most this season.