Australian cricket has a bright future

Australia’s Test team may be in disarray following the ball-tampering scandal, yet the long-term future of the side looks bright due to the clutch of gifted young players emerging in the Sheffield Shield.

Here are ten promising players aged 23 or under plying their trade in the Sheffield Shield:

Gabe Bell (TAS) – 23 years old – (Pace bowler)
Australia has such extraordinary talent and depth in fast bowling that it is easy for gifted young quicks to fly under the radar. That’s just what Bell has done despite a remarkable start to his first-class career, with 40 wickets at 19 from nine matches.

Bell may not have startling speed but he is accurate, gains steep bounce from his 195cm frame, and most importantly he earns considerable late swing. It is this movement through the air which most troubles Shield batsmen.

Josh Inglis (WA) – 23 years old – (Wicketkeeper-batsman)
South Australia’s Alex Carey is widely considered to be Australia’s Test-keeper-in-waiting, but by the time current Test gloveman Tim Paine retires, Inglis will be firmly in contention for higher honours.

Injuries to gun gloveman Sam Whiteman have opened the door for Inglis, who has been hugely impressive in both the Shield and one day cricket. A neat keeper and compact, stylish batsman who likes to counter-attack, Inglis has made 875 runs at 35 so far in first-class cricket, to go with 499 runs at 31 (strike rate of 106) in one day cricket.

Josh Inglis leaves the field (AAP Image/David Crosling)

Will Pucovski (VIC) – 20 years old – (Batsman)
Lots has written about this young gun, but I have one stat you won’t have read anywhere else. The 20-year-old Victorian batsman has made a better start to his Sheffield Shield career than any of Australia’s top ten Test runscorers, as well as Sir Donald Bradman.

Averaging a whopping 82 after his first five Shield matches, Pucovski has easily bettered the averages at the same stage of Bradman (46), Matthew Hayden (67), Mark Taylor (54), Justin Langer (46), Greg Chappell (36), Michael Clarke (32), Steve Waugh (32), Ricky Ponting (30), Allan Border (28), David Boon (20) and Mark Waugh (10).

Possessed of enormous patience and shots all around the wicket, Pucovski is a Test star in the making. Unfortunately, he is currently taking a break from cricket for personal reasons.

Josh Philippe (WA) – 21 years old – (Batsman)
Philippe made a name for himself last summer when he cracked a freewheeling 88 in a two-day tour match against a six-man England bowling attack of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Jake Ball and Mason Crane.

That knock earned him a Shield debut a couple of months later and he then started this current Shield season in impressive fashion with a double of 104 and 41 against a very strong Victoria attack.

An aggressive and entertaining strokemaker, Philippe was excellent in the JLT Cup with 236 runs at 39 and a blazing strike rate of 120. He sweats on short balls so he can unfurl his thunderous pull shot, but is also sublime on the front foot. Philippe is also a fine ‘keeper but very rarely gets the chance to don the gloves at domestic level.

Cameron Green (WA) – 19 years old – (Bowling all-rounder)
This towering pace all-rounder has made a phenomenal start to his first-class career, with 22 wickets at 13 from his first five matches. Eighteen months ago Green became the youngest player in history to take a five-wicket haul in the Sheffield Shield, aged just 17, as he ripped Tasmania apart with match figures of 7-80.

Standing about 200cm tall, Green gets the ball to lift sharply off the pitch and possesses a lovely outswinger. He was clocked at 140kmh in the recent JLT Cup and should only get quicker as he grows into his lanky frame. What’s more is he’s also a talented batsman, having averaged 36 with the bat in Western Australia Premier Cricket across the past two seasons.

Matthew Short (VIC) – 22 years old – (Batting all-rounder)
Short’s debut first-class ton came in a tour match against England last summer when he cracked 134* for the Cricket Australia XI in Townsville. With 508 runs at 46 so far he has made a strong start to his first-class career. He began this Shield season with a fluent 80 against WA, an innings which showcased his attractive straight driving.

Short is also a confident player of spin, using his quick feet to get to the pitch of the ball. He entered State cricket as an all-rounder but his off-spin still needs plenty of development at this stage.

Matt Kelly (WA) – 23 years old – (Pace bowler)
This young right armer has taken 26 wickets at 23 so far in first-class cricket and also been very impressive in his limited List A performances. But he is stuck in a logjam of pace talent in WA, competing with the likes of Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Joel Paris, Andrew Tye and Simon Mackin.

At 195cm tall he gets good lift and has a nasty bouncer which he often uses to push batsman back in their crease before looking for the full off-cutter. He had an unlucky start to this Shield season when in WA’s first game he had to be subbed out before he had bowled after being hit on the helmet and concussed by a short ball.

Sam Heazlett (QLD) – (23 years old) – Batsman
In January last year Heazlett found himself in the odd situation of making his ODI debut for Australia before he had even played a one-day match for Queensland.

While he made only 4 in his solitary ODI he has since built a sensational List A record, scoring 748 runs at 53 with a strike rate of 101. But he also has clear potential as a first-class batsman, having finished in the top ten run-scorers in the Shield, with 649 runs at 41, in his debut season as a 20-year-old.

The stylish left-hander struggled in his second Shield season, averaging just 20, but has since made 548 runs at 42 in the Shield. That includes a grinding seven-hour knock of 118no to help Queensland secure a draw against South Australia last week.

Jake Weatherald (SA) – 23 years old – (Batsman)
It has been a big 12 months for this dynamic opening batsman. He was the fourth-highest run scorer in the Shield last season, third in the BBL and just had a cracking JLT Cup averaging 52 at a strike rate of 104.

He first caught my eye with his raw aggression and the remarkable force of his strokes, despite being small in stature. Immediately he reminded me of another small but explosive left-handed opener in David Warner.

Jake Weatherald of the Strikers celebrates his century with Travis Head during the Big Bash League Final(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Similar to Warner, Weatherald offers bowlers a fine margin in terms of length. Overpitch slightly and he clatters off drives through the infield. Drop a fraction short and he rocks back to unleash his whippy pull shot.

A less flattering attribute he shares with Warner is sometimes questionable shot choices. Once Weatherald tightens up that part of his game he can become a dominant Shield batsman and potentially even a successful Test cricketer.

Lloyd Pope (SA) – 18 years old – (Leg spinner)
The flame-haired leggie has produced two astonishing performances already in 2018. First he ripped apart England with a haul of 8-32 in the under-19 World Cup, and then took a seven-wicket haul in his second Shield match.

The comparisons with Shane Warne were inevitable but, apart from both being Australian leggies, there’s really only one thing that they have strongly in common – extreme drift. Pope imparts such fierce revolutions on his deliveries that he gets the ball to swerve sharply into right-handed batsman or away from left-handers.

This was also one of Warne’s biggest weapons – often batsmen would plant their front foot on what they assumed to be the line of his deliveries only for them to drift viciously, leaving right-handers trying to reach around their front pad and left-handers playing away from their body.

Regardless of the comparisons with Warne, there is no denying the immense talent of Pope.

Lloyd Pope helped Australia claim a stunning victory at the Under 19s World Cup. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer-IDI/IDI via Getty Images)

Honourable mentions
Of course, there’s also the likes of 22-year-old former Test opener Matt Renshaw, 21-year-old Tasmanian batsman Jake Doran, who made 756 runs at 44 in the Shield last summer, 22-year-old Western Australia quick Jhye Richardson who has impressed in ODIs and T20Is, and intimidating 23-year-old express quick Billy Stanlake.

Australian 23-and-under Test team
1. Matt Renshaw (22)
2. Jake Weatherald (23)
3. Will Pucovski (20)
4. Jake Doran (21)
5. Sam Heazlett (23)
6. Matt Short (22)
7. Josh Inglis (23)
8. Cameron Green (19)
9. Jhye Richardson (22)
10. Lloyd Pope (18)
11. Gabe Bell (23)