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Finally, Australia are producing prolific young batsmen again. The success of a growing group of young strokemakers in domestic cricket is a sign Australia may finally be moving on from a period dominated by older batsmen.
Between September 2011 and February 2014, Australia handed Test debuts to five batsmen – Shaun Marsh, David Warner, Ed Cowan, Rob Quiney and Alex Doolan.
Only Warner, at 25 years old, could be considered a young cricketer – the other four had an average age of 29. Despite their advanced age, all of Marsh, Cowan, Quiney and Doolan boasted ordinary first-class records with batting averages in the late 30s.
They were chosen, largely, because there was such a dearth of young batting talent in Australia – a shortage repeatedly bemoaned by the likes of former Test skipper Ian Chappell, who hated seeing the steady stream of old debutants.
During this period, the runscorer lists in the Sheffield Shield consistently were dominated by players in their late 20s and 30s.
In the 2011-12 Sheffield Shield season, of the top ten runscorers, only two were batsmen younger than 25. The following summer, only three of the top ten were aged less than 25. In 2013-14, that number fell to just one, and last summer, there also was just one.
Compare that to the current Sheffield Shield season, in which six of the top nine runscorers are younger than 25. What’s more is those six prolific young batsmen have an average age of only 22 – Matt Renshaw (19 years old), Sam Heazlett (20), Kurtis Patterson (22), Cameron Bancroft (23), Travis Dean (24) and Peter Handscomb (24).
Two of those players in Bancroft and Handscomb are pushing hard for Test berths, while the other four all look capable of doing the same over the coming years.
Meanwhile, Australia’s in-form Test team has just one member of its top six who is 30 or older – the rampant Adam Voges.
Voges apart, Australia’s current top seven is young enough to play together for perhaps the next five to six years. It won’t be easy for them to hold their places however, judging on the sudden burst of gifted young batsmen who have flooded the Shield.
Clearly it is very early days for the likes of Dean (career average of 58) Renshaw (47), and Heazlett (48), who have played just seven, seven and six first-class matches respectively.
Yet the performances of that trio and the more experienced Handscomb, Bancroft and Patterson make for a welcome change after the era of old Test debutants with batting averages in the 30s.
Having another fine season in the Shield, Handscomb shapes as the middle order successor to Voges. Since giving up the gloves to concentrate on his batting, Handscomb has been a consistent contributor for Victoria, averaging 50 across his past 19 Shield matches.
Bancroft, meanwhile, may well have made his Test debut in Bangladesh a few months back if Australia’s tour had not been cancelled for security reasons. He is keeping his name before the selectors, scoring 144 this week against a very strong NSW attack featuring four bowlers who have played for Australia.
In that same Shield match, Patterson scored 129* and 44. The young left-hander quietly has built an impressive first-class record of 1475 runs at 40.
Three to four years ago, such was the lack of young batting talent, that a 22-year-old with that kind of a record would have been constantly mentioned as a future Test player. Yet Patterson has flown under the radar completely.
It’s another sign that, after a period dominated by veteran batsmen, Australian domestic cricket is once again producing young batting stars.