At first glance, it’d be easy to think Indian first drop Cheteshwar Pujara had an ordinary Test series against Australia this summer.
The veteran averaged just 33 across four Tests and had a high score of 77. Those who watched the series closely, though, would recognise the stat which revealed Pujara’s true influence was not his average but the amount of time he spent at the crease.
In that series, only two batsmen faced more than 90 balls per dismissal: Marnus Labuschagne (106) and Pujara (116).
The Indian brilliantly executed his role, which was to blunt the potent Australian attack. By forcing the Aussie bowlers to toil, Pujara provided a platform for India’s more aggressive middle-order players to go after a tiring attack.
It is an old-school method that has fallen out of favour in modern Test cricket. That’s also largely because, in this white-ball dominated era, there are few current Test batsmen with the blend of endless patience and sturdy defence required to execute this strategy.
Which brings me around to Bryce Street. In the same way that a quick look at Pujara’s summer stats would be misleading, so too could the casual observer fail to be overly impressed with Street’s knock in the Sheffield Shield final. I mean, he made 46. It’s a handy score, but hardly match-shaping.
Except that it was.
NSW had just been rolled for 146 with all ten wickets falling to pace. The Allan Border Field pitch was offering rewards to quicks that presented the seam nicely, as did Michael Neser (5-27) and Jack Wildermuth (4-21).
Street was then handed the daunting task of facing the new ball in the biggest match of his career against a phenomenal NSW attack as good as most Test bowling units.
The Blues had three-quarters of the Australian Test attack (Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon) plus another two bowlers who’ve played for Australia in Trent Copeland and Sean Abbott.
When former Test opener Joe Burns went cheaply, the pressure on Street intensified. The Blues duly got stuck into the 23-year-old. Street was sledged, struck on the body and harassed by high-quality bowling.
It was the sort of searching examination that opening batsmen rarely face at the domestic level. In fact, often they don’t encounter such a hostile environment until they reach the Test level, if they ever manage to get there at all.
That gulf in intensity and difficulty between state and international cricket has been too extreme for many dominant domestic batsmen. In this instance, though, Street seemed to thrive on such fierce combat.
When Starc thudded a delivery into his body, Street didn’t wince or retreat, he laughed it off. Street soaked up all of this for hour after hour, clearly frustrating the NSW bowlers and ever so slowly helping Queensland into a commanding position.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
By the time he was finally dismissed, the youngster had camped at the crease for nearly five hours, his grinding knock lasting longer than the entire NSW first innings. He had annoyed another very strong NSW attack earlier this month when he made 59 from 154 balls.
Innings like that, and his 46 in the Shield final, don’t leap off scorecards. They don’t earn headlines like sparkling tons. But within a team environment they’re hugely valued because they make life much easier for the batsmen lower down the order, who come to the crease against a weathered ball and a flagging attack.
The fact is that outside of Test superstars Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, no Australian batsman is harder to dismiss than Street.
In his 16 first-class matches to date, Street has absorbed a whopping 126 balls per dismissal.
Here’s how that figure compares to the first-class records of Australia’s other leading openers:
Bryce Street: 126 balls per dismissal.
Will Pucovski: 105 balls.
Cameron Bancroft: 89 balls.
Marcus Harris: 71 balls.
Joe Burns: 71 balls.
David Warner: 67 balls.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Granted, Street’s sample size is far smaller than the likes of Warner, Bancroft, Harris and Burns. But it is a remarkable stat nonetheless.
Street has a truly rare ability to weather the new ball and bat for time. He also has his limitations as a batsman. Street rarely scores freely, even when well set. Of greater concern is his poor strike rotation, which too often leaves his batting partner stuck at one end over after over. Yet the first of those limitations isn’t that great a hurdle, as Pujara has shown, so long as your team is backing you to occupy the crease in that manner.
And among all the many weaknesses a young opening batsman could have, strike rotation is one of the least concerning, and easiest to correct. Compared, for example, to guys like Bancroft and Harris who deep into their first-class careers still have quite leaky defences.
Street, so far at least, has shown that this bedrock of an opening batsman’s game – forward and back foot defence – is in terrific shape. It’s still early in his career, and too soon to be looking to vault him into the Test team.
But the foundation of Street’s batting is wonderfully old-school – Pujara-esque , in fact. And the Indian champion has repeatedly proved against Australia that this traditional mode of Test batting still has great value.
Renato CARINI
Roar Rookie
A very good observation, Ronan.
Rob
Guest
Matt Renshaw was a revelation and every moron got in his ear and wanted him playing more shots. Leaving and defending for long periods is a skill in it’s self. Pugara proved the value of crease occupation. Aren’t the big NSW bowling attack the best in the world? What he did in the final brought them to kicking stones. The end result was a thrashing. Well played young man.
Daniel
Guest
I agree with a lot of what you say, but point out that the NSW attack was effectively a test strength one. Street also said it was a step up from what he's previously faced in the Shield. So you could argue that he's already proven he can handle that level, but the issue still remains about whether he's too slow and limited in his shots. Like you, i also think having Labu as his partner probably disguised his slowness somewhat.
Bigal
Roar Rookie
Excellent analysis Ronan. I totally agree with your comments regarding Bryce. The only thing'd like to add to the conversation though is that the public and the media quickly tire of the a classic dour cricketer. You only need to consider another member of the Qld side to see this. Matt Renshaw. Matt was selected for Australia based on great technique and an ability to bat time and wear bowlers down. On his entry to the side he did just that, several great innings culminating in his first test ton. However all the time the birds kept chirping in his ears, he's too slow, he needs to be able to step up a gear, and suddenly he's out of the side to work on his game. The messing with his head from the media, selectors and public destroyed what could have been a great career for Australia and it is only now he is finding his way again. Pick him for higher honours anytime you like, but don't try and change what he was selected for in the first place!
Daniel
Guest
Very good article. The question I have though is how much did it help Street having Labuschagne at the other end in the final. To what extent did Labuchagne's brilliance camouflaged Street's inability to score quickly, potentially putting enormous pressure on his batting partner to do so.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Matth I remember Greg Matthews batted in a fairly similar manner in the 1992-93 shield final in a not completely dissimilar match situation.
Lachlan Onions
Roar Rookie
Agreed, the fundamentals are definitely there. With time he'll get better at rotating the strike once he gets more experience facing quality attacks. I wouldn't mind seeing him included in Australia A games just to give him more time out in the middle
Paul D
Roar Rookie
I think we tried this with Ed Cowan.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Seems we agree, I'm just adding he will understand when experienced partners recognise his contribution and show him how and when to up the rate. Some players are born to go hell for leather and need to learn to be circumspect depending on the situation, some come from the opposite side of the game. Some evolve, some decide this is their game and can't be told. Street looks teachable.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Exactly, working out how to go from just defending or leaving a ball, to being able to push it into a gap for a single is just as much a technical change as working out a defensive weakness and working on technique changes to overcome that. Playing that slowly puts a lot of pressure on your partner. I've been the other guy, feeling like I need to farm the strike like I'm batting with a tail-ender because I know if I get a single early in the over, the rest of the over will just be dots. It's not helpful. If the guy at the other end is going well, he needs to be able to feed them the strike, and if the other guy is struggling, he needs to be able to up the ante to take the pressure off. Until he can do those things, even thinking about him at the next level is crazy. No problem with starting off slow to see off the new ball, but you need to be able to then increase the run rate once you are in. And even in those early stages, turning over the strike so the bowlers don't just keep getting 6 balls straight at you is just as helpful for surviving against top bowlers also.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
One key thing I forgot to mention is Street's career record is even more impressive because he's based at the Gabba. Those who watch Shield games know its the most difficult Shield pitch for batting, which offers more assistance to quicks than any other. These career averages at the Gabba of other leading domestic openers show how hard that venue is for openers: Whiteman - 14 avg. Harris - 18 avg. Bancroft - 19 avg. Street doesn't have the luxury of being based on the uber-roads of the MCG/Junction (where Harris churns out most of his runs). Instead he has to regularly make tough runs at the Gabba.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Have to agree. Street is a good role player for Queensland but is a very limited player as things stand. Someone striking at 30 in FC cricket is going to strike at 20 against good test attacks, and pile pressure on the batsman at the other end to score all of the runs. You can't have a batsman at one end consistently scoring at less than 2 rpo. Street needs to develop a method to increase his scoring rate to be seriously considered at test level.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
He kept in 2 of his first 10 games - neither of which he opened in (he opened in all the other of his first 10 games, barring one innings).
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Cameron Bancroft's FC average is 38, not 46. His test average is also 26, not 28. I don't know where you got the idea AB de Villiers averaged 15 after 10 tests. He averaged 52 after 10 tests and had already scored 2 test hundreds and 2 90s (all opening the batting), and he was only 21 years old. Not writing off Bancroft yet, but he has shown very little to suggest he will succeed at test level so far. He needs to pile on big runs at Shield level and show a much tighter technique than we saw first time around.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Sorry, but I have to disagree on this. A player who struggles to get the ball off the square in first class cricket is going to struggle even more with that once he reaches test level. He needs to find a way to score. Pujara has a test strike rate of 44, Street has a first class strike rate of 30! Remember when Matt Renshaw made his test debut? He just found himself completely unable to turn over the strike or tick over the scoreboard and it caused issues. It puts a lot of pressure on the batsman at the other end to push along the scoring, and it takes the pressure off the fielding team. In this case he got lucky that he had someone like Labushagne at the other end who was just making it look easy. But if he can't find ways to score runs against first class attacks, he's not going to do any good against test attacks. No problem with a batting method that involves really starting off slowly, getting your eye in, seeing off the new ball and then upping the rate. But if you never manage to up the rate at all that's a problem. He's still young, only played 16 first class games. So I'm certainly not writing him off. But a first class strike rate of 30 is not going to translate well to test cricket, because he will get even less lose balls to score off in test cricket.
Paul
Roar Guru
Really good comments Nudge. At the end of the day though, Street is at something of a crossroads in his career. Let's assume he starts well next summer and is included in the Australian squad, I've no issues if he bats slowly but safely, depending on the circumstances of the game. The issue is whether his batting will naturally evolve so he scores faster, as you suggest, or whether he's a one pacer. I'm hoping the former because I'd love to see another Langer type player at the top of the order, but he needs to develop his game and guys like Langer and his Qld coach need to help him do that.
Tom
I reckon we will see some spill for the current Qld squad in the next few years too. Guys like Heazlett, Mcsweeney, Stanlake, Blake Edwards and Kuhnemann are shield quality players but haven’t got a run for Qld all season except for Kuhnemann while Swepson was injured. Surely teams like SA and Tas will be hunting those guys.
Hard to believe he is not in mind of cricket writers when his technique and temperament are superior to the names being bandied about. Now he is getting runs, I think he will be hard to ignore.
Tom
Those Williamsonesque cover drives of Hunt's are an absolute joy to watch
Tom
Spot on, so many comments on social media going about from people that have obviously not watched the match.