Domestic start offers clues to Australian cricket’s evolution

Pete goes to the one day domestic match in Sydney on a weekend where too much sport was not enough …

George Bailey runs a chain of fitness centres with Tim Paine down on the island where they both grew up, but on Sunday he was in the donut business.

Trapped in a small office while at the NSW v Western Australia domestic match, the selector deflected my inquiries about the opening debate with a less-than-generous “I thought the captain chose the batting order”.

It is a valid point, but that said, I may now have a little more understanding of why Jimmy Anderson got so upset by George in Brisbane that day.

A third party to the conversation, NSW’s Greg Mail, made a telling contribution to the question-and-deflection by suggesting that a captain is usually given a couple of openers to choose from by a selection panel.

It was a good point.

Ed Cowan, former opener and director at NSW cricket, was on hand to raise an eyebrow at all this debate about the position he formerly filled. He and the excellent Corbin Middlemas discussed the various combinations and permutations on their ABC Grandstand Cricket Podcast last week. Like the rest of us they find themselves talking in circles about incoming specialists and who goes out should someone come in. (Surely Corbin can’t be serious when he floats the idea of Marnus being dropped, but then again our Gideon is floating the idea it may have to be Mitch Marsh) and our Sam says the whole situation is cricket’s version of whack-a-mole.

Warner, who is off playing the “bigger and better” Season 2 of Zim Afro T10 in Harare, must be rather amused by all of this. If Smith fails to make a go at opening then those who have specialised in the job will be within their rights to observe that it is harder than it looks. If Smith makes a success of it then the bragging rights are all his.

Let’s see who comes out on top: Smith in the middle or Warner from the comfort of the commentary position.

That said, this was not supposed to be an article about Steve Smith.

It was good to get out to the first game of men’s domestic cricket for the 2024-25 season which will stretch from this early dawn until the sun sets over the Sheffield Shield final in the last days of March 2025.

There’s a lot of cricket to pass under the bridge before then. Nonetheless there’s a bit going on, off and on the field and much of it was on hand at this domestic encounter.

The small crowd – maybe 50 odd people – were treated to a sparkling century by Josh Philippe, the talented young batter who has shaved his head and returned to his home state. The 27-year-old struck 17 boundaries and four sixes on his way to a career best 139 from 119 balls against his former state.

NSW has added a bit of strength to a soft batting line up with Philippe and Nic Maddison back in the fold after stints at Western Australia and Victoria.

For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction, and NSW’s Baxter Holt had moved to WA and found himself standing in Philippe’s place behind the stumps. It’s a big move for the young cricketer and self styled life coach.

Jhye Richardson took five wickets, knocking over the openers early and bowling with some good pace. Recently turned 28, he will be hoping for some clear air on the injury front and Australia will be hoping he might be able to make an impact if called on to make a cameo or two in the coming series. It’s been a hard slog for the quick who has only played 25 first class matches since making his debut in 2019.

The new era of contracting is upon state cricket.

Ashton Agar, Andrew Tye and Jason Behrendorff all flew across the continent and turned out for WA despite rejecting state contracts in the off season. All were playing for match payments (about $2,110 a game) in an arrangement that offers them access to the elite performance program, but also gives them the flexibility to play franchise cricket when the opportunity arises given.

It seems like a common sense solution for a trio who aren’t going to play a lot of Shield cricket, but as previously observed, good sense has not always been common in such situations.

Should any play enough ODI or T20 matches in the next 12 months they will get an automatic upgrade to a base level central contract.

NSW has done a similar thing with Chris Green who has exercised the flexibility in his relationship in order to miss the early one day games while he leads the Antigua and Barbuda franchise in the Caribbean Premier League.

Start of the Australian season though it is, this is a hectic time in the cricket calendar. An Australian international men’s  side is playing out the last days of the English calendar which now stretches to the back end of September. The Australian international women’s T20 side has been up and about, warming up in the north with a series against New Zealand before heading to the UAE where they will attempt to win a fourth consecutive T20 title (they have won six of the last seven).

At the recent Cricket for Climate academy there was talk of cricket perhaps needing to migrate to the cooler months and the problems that will create in terms of competition with the football codes. On Sunday I left the NSW WA game out at Cricket Central complex (conveniently located between the jail and the pub at Olympic Park) to head back to the inner west where the Swans and Giants women’s sides were playing a derby at the Henson Park ground.

Now, that was a scene. Over 5,500 people attended, outlets on the hill sold a range of craft beers from the local breweries and there’s frankly no better spot to watch a game of footy. Henson Park was once a brick quarry and its oval sits in the centre of an amphitheatre created by those endeavours. For decades the exclusive home of the Newtown Jets league side (there’s a good movie made about those days) it now finds itself in an uncomfortable share arrangement with the invasive species. You can only imagine how galling it is for the old school league types to see the fancy pants Australian Rules mob taking over their oval.

Henson Park Giants v Swans AFLW

Facilities at Henson are crude but with all the football being played there the local council is working on some upgrades.

Facilities at Cricket Central, NSW’s new home, are not complete yet, but are already pretty impressive.

The oval is International Cricket Council compliant and has a wicket square that accommodates around 18 pitches in the manner of an English ground. There’s 15 indoor nets open to the public and an office space with an amphitheatre and open plan office space that feels as much Christian revivalist as it does cricket.

To this point the public are confined to a handkerchief corner of the ground, but there are plans to construct an artificial hill which will presumably make watching the game a little more comfortable. There’s lights being installed, another building under construction and a smaller training oval yet to be developed.

It’s not a comfortable viewing experience at Cricket Central, but will improve.

I drove out, but you can catch a ferry which winds its way up the Parramatta River past Mark Taylor’s house and the site of James Squire’s original Sydney tavern.