Richard Edwards

5 December 2024

A quick look through the current England side reveals the role that Australian club cricket – inadvertently or otherwise – has played in shaping this side.

And as the mercury plummets in the northern hemisphere this winter, there are plenty of young aspiring cricketers feeling the sun on their back as they take another step in their cricket education Down Under.

England vice-captain Ollie Pope – who was awarded a special commendation by the government of New South Wales for the impact he had during the 2017/18 season for the Campbell Town Ghosts – is just one of a number of players who have used Grade Cricket as a springboard to bigger and better things.

“Ollie’s contribution to the Ghosts’ cricket has been outstanding,” said Chris Patterson MP, during an address to the NSW Parliament back in March 2018.

“Off the field he has been an absolute gentleman and a wonderful role model with a strong work ethic. Ollie has shown respect for the game and his fellow players – a true sportsman in every sense of the word.”

His is an example of the impact that a season in one of world cricket’s most unforgiving environment can have.

Joe Root, England’s record run-scorer and Test century maker, is another. A cricketer who went to Adelaide with the look of the choir boy and returned from Australia as a batter capable of orchestrating a career at the very highest level.

”Joe’s (work ethic) was ridiculous,” says Lachlan Blunden, who played with the former England captain for Prospect Cricket Club, alongside Aussie great, Nathan Lyon.

“He didn’t score massively heavily with us and I don’t think I’m being out of line suggesting that a few of us were pretty surprised by how quickly he progressed.

“But you certainly can’t question him now.”

He’s not wrong. Blunden’s father, Donald, also saw the young Root at first hand and is in no doubt just how invaluable spending time in Australia is, not just for players like Root, but club cricketers across the board.

“I don’t think you can beat going and playing good, hard cricket in Australia, but it’s not just the cricket, it’s the whole package, the complete experience,” he says. “You’re not just playing cricket against bloody good players, you’re also fending for yourself.

“You see young guys come over here and grow up fast. We’ve got Michael Atherton’s son with us this year (Michael de Caires) and he’s going through the same process. It’s no coincidence that although Joe didn’t do fantastically well he came into the England side as a more complete player and person.”

And therein lies the key to making the grade in Australia. It’s not just about the cricket, it’s the country’s approach to the sport, the passion of those who play it and the learnings you take as a youngster, miles from home and generally facing Australian quicks who enjoy nothing more than trying to knock a young English kids block off.

Root himself would make his England bow in India shortly after his spell at Prospect, and the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy. He never looked back.

Now, of course, very few of the army of young cricketers heading Down Under this winter will go on to achieve a fraction of what Pope, let alone Root, have achieved. But that’s not the point. Any trip to Australia is generally memorable, but a successful spell in Grade Cricket can help cram a lifetime of sporting lessons into four or five months. Those players then return and pass on everything they’ve learned to those who might otherwise never have considered a winter of cricket overseas themselves.

In the pavilion of the ‘Ghosts’ home ground, sits a picture of a teenage Pope in his Campbell Town cap, merely a young English kid making his way in the game. Within five years, that image was transformed to one of the England captain during one of the most formative stages of his career.

“You don’t ever know what’s going to happen in cricket, or in life,” says Blunden. “In Australia, just as clubs do in England when young Aussies arrive, I’m sure, we see it as our job to give these young guys the most enjoyable experience possible. We don’t do it because we think they might suddenly be an England captain one day.”

The links forged between cricket clubs is important here too. A promising youngster breaking into an English first team, is only ever a phone call away from being provided with a dream off-season opportunity. The trust built up between Grade Cricket and the club pyramid here, provides a valuable network to facilitate this. The agencies that have sprung up to offer a similar chance to young cricketers both north and south of the equator, are also playing an increasingly crucial role.

But off the pitch, as well as on it, the friendships that are forged, like the lessons learned, often last a lifetime.