Bartlett had taken 2 for 25 to help Australia win the final ODI against South Africa, leading to a brief thought that he might be staying on for the Test tour, but it was quickly confirmed that he was simply getting his red-ball loads up as he prepared to fly directly to Perth to join the Queensland squad for their opening Sheffield Shield clash against Western Australia at the WACA ground starting on Thursday.
“I think he’s well in the Test queue,” Hopes told Cricinfo. “I know there’s players being picked in front of him at the moment, but I think the ability for him to come off an Australian tour now and actually play some games, he’s coming back to us available and unrestricted, which is a big thing. He’s played in the last couple of years. I know there’s been some Shield games where there’s been an over limit put on the amount he can bowl. But he’s coming into these games, he’s really excited about the fact that he can just play the game, and if he’s got to bowl 35-40 overs, he’s got to bowl 35-40 overs. And his record is very good.”
Bartlett has 111 first-class wickets at 25.77 from 32 matches including three five-wicket hauls. He only managed three Shield games last summer, on top of two other first-class games for Australia A, owing to his white-ball commitments. Bartlett’s prowess with the new ball is highly regarded by Australia’s selectors. Keeping his pace up across the course of a match and impacting games with the old ball on flatter wickets is the next phase of his development. He has worked with Australia and Queensland bowling coaches across the winter on trying to keep his pace up under fatigue.
But beyond his bowling, there is another facet of his game that makes him an attractive prospect. He averages 25.06 with the bat in first-class cricket with six half-centuries including three in his last six innings. Bartlett also thumped a 28-ball 50 in the second ODI against South Africa recently. Hopes knows Bartlett well from working with him at Punjab Kings in the IPL and believes his batting is a major asset.
“If you start to look at his batting a bit closer, he’s actually starting to get into the bowling allrounder kind of category,” Hopes said. “He scores runs pretty consistently across formats now. He was a pleasant surprise in the IPL with the way that he could bat at the end of the innings.
“He’s got some upsides. I’m really happy that they just haven’t kept him in South Africa to sit on the bench. He’s got the ability to come back and actually play some meaningful cricket where he can push his case forward in long-form cricket. Because I think once he starts to play this format consistently again, I think his stocks will rise pretty quick for Test cricket.”
Bartlett is set to lead an attack in Perth that will be without Neser, who is with the Test squad in South Africa. Veteran Mark Steketee is still working his way back from hamstring surgery in the winter.
“He played third grade as a batter last game, which I think was really good for him to get him back out on the park,” Hopes said. “But he’s playing first grade and bowling this weekend, so that’s his first step back to playing. It’ll be 10-12 overs. We thought to get him out to a lower intensity environment for his first bowl back, which is club cricket, and then I think from there it’ll be a progression into the One-Day stuff. Whether the Adelaide One-Dayer [against South Australia on October 17] is on the table or not, we don’t know. But we’re week to week with him.
“He’s starting to do some things consistently now. He started bowling consistently at training. He started to talk more about the bowling side of things as opposed to the action side of things, which is normally the steps you see with these young guys. They start to get less concerned about their bowling action and more concerned about what’s happening at the other end. And I think that’s a good sign.”
Queensland squad
Mitchell Swepson (c), Xavier Bartlett, Hugo Burdon, Jack Clayton, Cameron Gannon, Lachlan Hearne, Hayden Kerr, Angus Lovell, Dylan McLachlan, Jimmy Peirson, Jem Ryan, Tom Straker, Hugh Weibgen
Western Australia squad
Aaron Hardie (c), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Joel Curtis, Kieran Elliott, Albert Esterhuysen, Sam Fanning, Jayden Goodwin, Liam Haskett, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli
New South Wales squad
Charlie Stobo (c), Sean Abbott, Oliver Davies, Jack Edwards, Brock Fitton, Ryan Hicks, Bryce Jackson, Riley Kingsell, Reiley Mark, Kurtis Patterson, Will Salzmann, Jake Scott
Tasmania squad
Jordan Silk (c), Marcus Bean, Gabe Bell, Jake Doran, Brad Hope, Caleb Jewell, Raf MacMillan, Caelan Maladay, Ben McDermott, Aidan O’Connor, Will Prestwidge, Tim Ward, Teague Wyllie
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at Cricinfo
