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The push for Jackson Bird to be elevated to the Australian Test team gained serious momentum over the last couple of weeks.
With Bird’s inclusion in the squad for the Boxing Day Test Match, it would seem the campaign has been a roaring success.
I found it quite bizarre that Bird had gained such a ‘loyal’ following, considering the fact that he only made his first class debut last season.
How does one earn an army of supporters in such a short time?
After all, the Sheffield Shield competition is not shown on TV, and both domestic limited overs tournaments – the Ryobi Cup and Big Bash League – are broadcast on Pay-TV operator Foxtel, whose penetration into Australian households hovers around 30%.
That would all suggest that very few cricket followers have actually seen Bird bowl a lot of overs. So, if that’s the case, where does the support for his Test team selection come from?
The simple answer is statistics, for Bird’s are outstanding.
Bird is the leading Sheffield Shield wicket-taker for the past two seasons, and has claimed an impressive 87 first-class wickets at an average of 19.72 in 17 matches.
Bird had a dream debut season for the Tasmania Tigers in 2011-12. He took 53 wickets at an average of 16, topped the bowling tally, and was named the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year.
His stellar season was punctuated by the hat-trick he took against Western Australia in Hobart. He finished the game with match figures of 11/95, as he helped Tasmania earn a spot in the Shield final.
Not a bad rookie year.
Yet far from being a flash-in-the-pan or a one season wonder, Bird again leads the Shield wicket taking tally this year with 27 scalps.
Numbers like that prove very hard to ignore for selectors, and Bird justifiably got the call up for the pinnacle of the cricketing calendar, the Boxing Day Test Match in Melbourne.
But who the hell is Jackson Bird?
The young right-arm bowler is 26 years of age, and in 2011 he moved from New South Wales – where he played grade cricket for Manly – to Tasmania, in order to break in to first-class cricket.
By now, you’ve probably read or heard that he’s accurate and bowls at the stumps. That he’s capable of swinging the ball both ways, along with getting seam movement, even if he doesn’t bowl at express pace.
That’s a fantastic summary.
However, anyone can read a cricinfo profile.
This is an opinion website, and whilst Bird has tremendous statistics, I think it’s important that opinions are based on more than just statistics or carefully constructed website bios.
I’ve seen Bird bowl a little bit, and my personal impression is that he’d be a very handy limited overs bowler, due to his control and accuracy. Yet I think he may lack the penetration and ‘zip’ required to be a frontline quick at Test level.
He reminds me slightly of ex-Queensland and Australian bowler Adam Dale, though I admit that he is slightly quicker. Dale enjoyed a solid international career in the 50 over format, but played just two Tests, with concerns over his ability to pressure elite level batsmen.
This is the same concern I hold for Bird in the Test arena.
However, as I’ve stated many times before, he has well and truly earned the right to prove me, and others, wrong. Wickets – and truckloads of them – will do that.
As part of due diligence in writing this article, I spoke to two batsmen who have faced Bird, to gain their perspective of his ability and potential.
Seeming as both batsmen had been dismissed by Bird in the past, it may be unsurprising that they were high in their praise for him.
The consensus was that while Bird may not send down lightening bolts, he’s hardly pedestrian with his pace. He’s always ‘at you’ and gives away few ‘freebies’ or bad balls. He can also make the ball ‘talk’, and gets the most out of conditions.
Sounds a little like Glenn McGrath if you ask me; and he was able to carve out a somewhat successful career, I think you’d agree?
The other thing I was reminded of after speaking to the batsmen, is that pressure can come from more than just bowling quick.
Pressure can come from attacking the stumps, making batsmen play, keeping the score tight, and moving the ball just enough to beat the bat or get an edge.
Speed isn’t everything.
The batsmen didn’t give me much – essentially a smattering of cricket jargon for exactly how Bird has been described everywhere else: not express pace, but accurate, and can swing and seam the ball.
Is that enough for him to succeed at Test level?
I think it’s only fair to Bird that we find out.