Why you should care about Australia's Under-19 cricket team

The Australian Under-19 team for an Ashes trip to England has been named by Cricket Australia selectors and coaches. Here’s why should you care about the upcoming stars, even if an English head coach is in charge.

Australian Under-19 squad to tour British Isles
Jordan Gauci (NSW), Caleb Jewell (TAS), Sam Harper (VIC), Jake Doran (TAS), Patrick Page (SA), Will Pucovski (VIC), Tom Healy (QLD), Jonte Pattison (ACT/NSW), Jhye Richardson (WA), Henry Thornton (NSW), David Grant (SA), Liam Hatcher (NSW), Sam Grimwade (VIC), Arjun Nair (NSW), Ben Taylor (ACT/NSWC)

The squad is headlined by former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy’s son Tom Healy, and former New South Wales, now Tasmania batsman Jake Doran, who has been primed for a massive career in the green and gold having captained various state and international teams as he has progressed through the ranks.

Doran has also played in the Big Bash League, easily making him the most experienced player in the squad. I would expect him to take over the captaincy role.

The squad named for the Tour of the British Isles includes four players from the New South Wales metro team, two from Country New South Wales and the Australian capital territory team, two from Tasmania if Jake Doran is included, three from Victoria, two from South Australia and one from each of Queensland and Western Australia.

So that’s the easy bit. There is a wicketkeeper who happens to be a former Australian wicketkeeper’s son and a player who for anyone that takes half an interest in Australian cricket would have at least heard of.

The question still then remains. Who on earth are the rest? Why have you never heard of them? And why is Graeme Hick, a former England Test cricketer, coaching?

The Australian Under-19 team played against the Under-19 England team earlier this year in a single Test (four days) match which was followed by a series of five One-Day games. While the first class game was unfortunately drawn after the last day was washed away due to rain, Australia managed to take out the five-match One-Day series three games to two.

Let me start with two players who have been brought into the squad from the National Indigenous development program. In Ben Taylor and Jonte Pattison. Pattison actually played in the Imparja Cup earlier in the year. Both have been putting up good numbers in their respective states and deserve a crack.

Jhye Richardson and Henry Thornton opened the bowling in the One-Day series against the English earlier in the year and tore them to shreds, both picking up a bag of wickets in each game. Joining them on the fast bowling front will be David Grant from South Australia who is one of the more experienced members of the squad having travelled to Sri Lanka last season with the Under-19 squad.

The New South Wales combination of Jordan Gauci, Liam Hatcher and Arjun Nair will prove to be an interesting one. Nair represented both the New South Wales Under-17 and Under-19 teams as a batsman and spin bowler in the previous summer while Hatcher has returned from injury in the previous summer to open the bowling for the higher grades of Fairfield-Liverpool. Gauci meanwhile has been a prolific run scorer.

Victorian Sam Harper will be the back-up keeper in the squad and has represented Victoria in the Future’s League on a couple of occasions.

For most of the other players it will be their first time representing Australia at an Under-19’s level.

So, why should you care when Australia can’t even get their own coaches on the case? Well, it’s really quite simple. This is the future of Australian cricket. This gives the cricketing public of Australia some sort of insight into whether we can keep those poms away from the urn in the future, and really what more motivation does one need?

Another thing, this is a chance for Australia to beat England. Oh, and the Under-19 World Cup is just around the corner, so any chance to win something should be embraced. But with that important tournament coming up, it is massive that these players gain experience on the big stage.

Names like Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting have come through the Australian Under-19 ranks and it is a real breeding ground for the next generation of cricketing superstars.

While you may be questioning what is the point, based on the premise you only know one or two of the players, there is a huge reason for paying attention to this series. Even from an England point of view, this is playing stock that could be fighting for the Ashes in the future.

It caps of an interesting week for Cricket Australia with former Australian captain and prolific run scorer Steve Waugh’s sun Austin Waugh being named in the Under-16 national team after taking 4/8 in the state competition.

Regardless of the result this series is massive for all the players picked to represent Australia. For many it will be their first cricketing trip to England and they will also be keen to hold onto the trophy they won earlier this year in Western Australia.