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.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Great article Ronan, thanks for the insights.
Matth
Guest
The other good part to all of this is that at the moment the test team is batting well and should be stable for a year or two. This gives these young guys time to hone their games and get over the second year blues without being thrown in the deep end at test level. We are not desperate for alternatives at this point, as the top six have all earns enough brownie points lately to get a fair run, and Sean Marsh is still sitting there as the reserve with a century oblast start.
Pom in Oz
Roar Guru
No, he's saying that Warner was 25 when he debuted in 2011...
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Ronan, pretty sure Warner is 28 not 25. Either way still young enough when batsmen can play until there late 30's. Good to finally see some young batting talent putting the hand up for selection.
Rob JM
Guest
Wrong Don, they were sharing keeping duties. Just trying to point out the fact that his run of good form with the bat started before he gave up the gloves. I'm also very happy that an ex victorian in Neville is now the Aussie keeper! :) For the record I would take Sam Whitman as a gloveman over those two any day!
BurgyGreen
Guest
That's what I meant by '"he gets written off just because he’s good at limited overs stuff, and people decide he’s not a “real batsman”'. I'd dispute that his batting is "headless chicken". He's performed pretty damn well as far as I can tell. And what's wrong with scoring fast if he still has a really good record, averaging 40+? Isn't it good to score fast? I don't think his high strike rate is a detriment to his batting. In fact, it's a big bonus.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Shield pitches weren't particularly bowler friendly in the last 90s, early 00s. If they were it's unlikely that we would have seen so many big runs scored per season.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Burgey that's related to his headless chicken batting, that can't be any thing to do with his possiblity as an all-rounder. I'm sure if he compiled a decent run of scores at a good rather than mad lick in the Shield, they'd look at him as a batsman alone.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Says plenty about the wickets too.
BurgyGreen
Guest
I really hope Maxwell is the one to replace Voges whenever Sir Adam finishes up.
BurgyGreen
Guest
It's uncanny how similar to Smith he often looks.
BurgyGreen
Guest
I don't know, there do often seem to be stories about Lehmann telling Maxwell that he needs to 'mature' or Rod Marsh saying he needs to live up to his potential and things like that.
jamesb
Guest
OK here is my reply, Renshaw took 49 balls to get off the mark and then stablise the innings by contributing with runs, which is well and good.However, when one batsman doesn't score runs, it does put pressure on the other batsman at the other end to do the scoring. And that may lead to the other batsman's downfall.
Peter
Roar Rookie
Patterson, Handscomb & Bancroft have all played a fair amount of Shield cricket.
Don Freo
Guest
Although, Burgy, I don't think that is the selectors' perception. It is more the perception of the public.
BurgyGreen
Guest
Maxwell has a real perception issue. He keeps showing how good he is with the bat, but because he can bowl the selectors pigeonhole him as an all-round option. Also, he gets written off just because he's good at limited overs stuff, and people decide he's not a "real batsman". None of this is his fault, or actually in any way diminishes his stellar ability as a long form batsman, but it seems to be held against him nonetheless.
Tom Cahill
Guest
*is, not I'd
Tom Cahill
Guest
Very true Con, but a bit of what if I'd never a bad thing for a rabid cricket fan ;)
Tom Cahill
Guest
I read that entire comment as praise, don't know what the issue with his innings is. Most guys would have gotten out before the 42nd ball, the fact he hung around and accelerated is mature.
James
Guest
You do realise that the ability to block 49 consecutive deliveries (I assume he wasn't completely floundering for all 49?) is pretty damn impressive? We actually could do with a batsman like that, who doesn't just collapse into a puddle of nerves after 1 over of decent bowling