Gillespie’s boiling over big Billy
JASON Gillespie wants Gold Coast giant Billy Stanlake to be an Adelaide Striker for life, but is not keen on him becoming one of cricket’s cotton wool kids.
Stanlake has become one of the Big Bash’s most captivating performers, pushing the speedometer to beyond 150km.
He has taken at least one wicket in all six of the Strikers’ games and not conceded more than 31 runs in any of them.
His pace, combined with bounce generated from his towering 204cm frame, has made him a handful and Strikers coach and former champion Test quick Gillespie is relishing his role as a mentor of a player with exceptional potential.
“I am an incredibly huge fan of him,’’ Gillespie said.
“We love him down here. We will do everything in our power to make sure he is an Adelaide Striker for life.’’
Gillespie may love Stanlake but he has considerably less affection for the bowling restrictions imposed by Cricket Australia last summer.
Stanlake was banned from bowling two days in a row and placed on a maximum workload of 24 balls every second day.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t agree with how he was managed last year and put on bowling restrictions,” Gillespie said.
“We adhered to those restrictions and I can tell you they were very strict.
“But then he went from bowling four overs every other day to be selected in a one-day international where he had to bowl 10 overs.
“He bowled three overs (against Pakistan at the Gabba) and went off with heat exhaustion or whatever he had and was not able to complete the game.”