Billy at Dizzy heights
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/h – rarefied air in any competition.
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 “Dizzy” 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 absolutely love him. We will do everything in our power to make sure he is an Adelaide Striker for life.’’
Gillespie has less affection for the bowling restrictions Stanlake was placed under by Cricket Australia last summer, which banned him from bowling two days in a row, with a maximum workload of 24 balls every second day.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t agree with how he was managed last year,” 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.
“That really frustrated me as his franchise coach.
“We have obviously got to look after our bowlers. But they need to work it out for themselves as well.
“They need to learn the difference between a little niggle as opposed to a genuine injury and the only way they are going to learn it is by bowling.”
Stanlake has played just two Sheffield Shield games for Queensland and was restricted mainly to white-ball cricket.