‘Bizarre’: Whitney fumes as NSW left red-faced by Shield champs

Legendary NSW quick bowler Mike Whitney has bemoaned the state physique’s failure to retain top-class gamers and aired his grievances over the epic crumbling of the Blues’ once-mighty manufacturing line of Test cricketers.

Whitney discovered himself grimacing as half a dozen gamers who had slipped by way of Cricket NSW’s fingers helped elevate South Australia to back-to-back Sheffield Shield titles in Melbourne on Monday.

“I just thought, ‘Wow. Look at all the Blues players in that side. There’s six dudes running around. It’s crazy!'” Whitney informed Wide World of Sports.

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Those six former NSW gamers who hoisted the Sheffield Shield as Redbacks on the Junction Oval on Monday had been Henry Hunt, Liam Scott, Nathan McAndrew, Jason Sangha, Henry Thornton and Ben Manenti.

All six grew up in NSW and minimize their enamel on the Sydney grade scene, however have develop into champion first-class cricketers interstate.

McAndrew’s journey has been notably fascinating, or miserable, relying on the place within the nation you name dwelling.

After spending his 20s scratching and clawing to interrupt into the NSW Sheffield Shield aspect however getting nowhere, the right-arm fast packed up and moved to South Australia.

He made his Shield debut with the Redbacks within the 2021-22 season, aged 28.

Since then, no tempo bowler has performed extra Shield matches than McAndrew’s 42, and no bowler, spinners included, have snared extra wickets than his 181. He’s taken his wickets at 23.52, and bagged 11 five-wicket hauls and a 10-for.

He additionally took out man of the match on this yr’s ultimate, having bagged six wickets throughout two innings to go together with a preventing half-century.

“New South Wales must look at that [the success at South Australia of former NSW cricketers] and go, ‘How did we let those guys go? How do we not recognise these guys, and why have we let so many of them go?'” Whitney mentioned.

“I don’t know the answer to that. It’s bizarre to me.

“I feel there’d be just a few folks [in NSW cricket circles] shaking and scratching their heads and going, ‘How can we let all these guys go?'”

Whitney played in four title-winning NSW Shield teams across the 1980s and 1990s.

No state has won anywhere near as many Shield titles as the 47 claimed by NSW. Next best is Victoria, who’ve won the Australian domestic first-class tournament 32 times.

But the Blues haven’t won a Shield title since 2019-20, nor featured in a final since 2020-21.

They finished second-last on the table in the summer just gone.

“Sorry, it is arduous for me to swallow that,” Whitney said.

In addition to the six former NSW players who’ve now tasted ultimate glory with South Australia, a long list of others have fled interstate from Sydney grade clubs and blossomed as first-class cricketers.

Among them are Tasmania speed demon Nathan Ellis, who’s become a regular of Australia’s white-ball sides since heading south.

There is a widely held view that a prioritisation of players in Cricket NSW’s pathways system over strongly performing Sydney grade players has driven cricketers out of the state.

In 2023, former NSW and Australian Test quick Stuart Clark accused the state body of being “fascinated with selecting 19-year-olds and never those that have earned the suitable to play”. Clark has since joined the Cricket NSW board.

Whitney said he’d never agreed with the Cricket NSW pathways system.

“Some child will get recognised at 14 or 15 or 16 and there is a number of assets put into that child,” Whitney said.

“He might need been an incredible participant as a youngster, however as you grow old your pure expertise will not be going to take you there; you have to be resilient, powerful, practice arduous, flip up each day and wanna make 100 or get 50 each time you go on the market.

“But because there’s been so many resources put into that particular kid, they feel like they’ve got to give him a chance, and they don’t want to flick him out of that line because the people that have picked him early might be a bit embarrassed about that now … They feel like they just can’t get rid of them. They need to give them an opportunity because if they don’t, they’ve wasted years on this particular kid that they think is going to be a talent.

“I feel among the coaches could be slightly bit embarrassed to suppose, ‘F—, I made a little bit of a blue again there’.

“I’ve seen people in grade cricket score heavily year after year after year but have never been included in the pathways system from a young age, but developed a little bit later when they were 20, 21, 22. They became really good players, but they’ve sort of missed that pathways entrance thing, and they get overlooked.”

Whitney feels as if Cricket NSW tries to justify its pathways nursery by handing gamers produced by the system saggy blue caps, reasonably than considering gun grade cricketers and selecting on benefit.

“Absolutely,” mentioned the previous Australian Test fast.

“That’s been going on for a long time.”

It’s a long-running joke in Australian cricket that when a saggy blue is handed out, a saggy inexperienced is, too, so dominant NSW cricket has been on the Test choice desk.

But of the 24 Australians who’ve made their Test debut for the reason that starting of 2017, solely two got here from the Blues — Kurtis Patterson and Sam Konstas.

“We’re not producing the level of player that we’d like to see, and some of our players that have left and gone elsewhere are performing at that level,” Whitney mentioned.

“So it’s a bit crazy.”

Brad Haddin, newly appointed as head coach of the NSW Blues after the mid-season sacking of Greg Shipperd, has vowed publicly to reboot Cricket NSW’s once-vaunted manufacturing line of Test cricketers.

“Look, New South Wales is in a bit of a stasis at the moment,” Whitney mentioned.

“We’ve just got rid of our coach, players have been leaving, you go to other states to get an opportunity, we’ve got a new coach coming in.

“I hope just a few issues change so far as the Shield aspect’s involved.”