JAKE DORAN: RISING STAR
THREE years on from his much publicised move from NSW, Jake Doran is thriving in the Sheffield Shield cauldron and repaying the faith shown in him by his adopted state.
Now he is determined to help deliver Tasmania the ultimate prize with victory against Queensland in the final starting tomorrow.
It has been a bumpy and at times challenging road since the 21-year-old shocked cricket circles in March 2015 when he joined the Tigers on a twoyear deal.
Regarded as one of the brightest prospects in Australia, Doran struggled to meet the lofty external expectations placed on him as Tasmania crashed to consecutive wooden spoons in his first two seasons.
But the arrival of new head coach Adam Griffith and batting coach Jeff Vaughan has transformed a mentally scarred team and Doran is arguably the epitome of the revival. The left-hander is Tassie’s leading run scorer this season with 722 at an average of 45.1, including a breakthrough century against South Australia in November.
He is the only player in the compet- ition to reach 50 on seven occasions this summer, while he has faced 281 more balls (1811) than any other batsman.
“I have always been told I have got the game and I have the ability to play, it was always more of a self thing to be able to get a big score,” Doran said.
“I would rather people talking about me than not, but also that pressure, looking at it, there was a stage where you are thinking, ‘I have a lot on my shoulders here’.
“At the same time I was just a young kid with an opportunity to try and go out and express myself.
“Being 18 at the time, I was just out there trying to play cricket and I suppose the hardest thing was the pressure I was putting on myself to try and help the team and help the team win.
“I was there to learn and make mistakes … I hadn’t played a first-class game. Now I have played 24 and towards the back part I’m starting to learn from those mistakes.”
So determined was Doran to prove his worth in the first-class arena — and lay a platform for higher honours in the coming years — he shunned this year’s Big Bash League in order to continue working on his red-ball cricket.
It was a huge decision to turn down the money on offer in the exploding Twenty20 format, but shows just how dedicated he is on his pursuit of a baggy green cap.
Four half-centuries in eight innings since Christmas and 417 runs at 52 are proof the choice was the right one.
“For me, I owed it to Tassie to focus on shield and red-ball cricket to be able to go out and perform, because I don’t think I had done that,” Doran said.
“Literally through the Big Bash period I worked with Jeff the whole time, did a strength and conditioning program and made sure I was right coming into the last five games. Looking at another player, Trent Copeland does it as well and he said to me just after we played the last game against NSW before Christmas, that I would notice it in the back half of the year.
“And I have, it has been a massive difference from the first half of the year and this is meant to be the hardest point, with the Dukes ball and playing at Bellerive.
“It is not to say I am not going to play white-ball cricket, but I think this year being a young kid, to be able to focus on the red-ball stuff was the right decision.”