BURNING DESIRE
DON’T worry about strike rates and averages – Gold Coast powerhouse Max Bryant has a different measure for success this summer.
“If I come off with sunburnt arms I know I have done my job,’’ the young Brisbane Heat batsman quipped.
“That’s not Twenty20 cricket, because I am not out there long enough, but in one-day and red-ball cricket.’’
The only time Bryant, 19, has come off with sunburnt arms was in a first grade innings for Gold Coast against Wests this season when he achieved another one of his season’s goals – to face 100 balls in an innings for the first time.
The Heat have blown hot and cold in the Big Bash League this season but Bryant, while yet to reach 50, has done well to provide cheeky little fuel-injected starts with scores of 44, 18, 36, 11, 34, 20 and 22.
The sum of his work for the Heat is 195 runs off just 121 balls at a blistering strike rate of 161.15.
He is one of the most interesting players in the competition, blessed with great power and a technique that looks solid enough, despite its cannonball trimmings.
Many of his sixes have been semi-orthodox lofted drives down the ground.
“Every game I feel a bit more confident in my ability,” he said.
“I try to stay still and rely on my hands and body position to do the work.
“You still have to have a good technique.
“I did not model my technique on anyone. It was more just hitting a ball on a string at home, hanging off a tin roof in the backyard. That taught me to play straight.’’
It seems incongruous that in a season in which he faced 100-plus balls for the first time in an innings, he also scored 62 against India and 36 against South Africa for the Cricket Australia XI.
But life moves quickly for talented young batsmen and he hopes the next step up will be a Sheffield Shield debut for the Bulls.
“Hopefully I might get a couple of Sheffield Shield games when they start again to show that I can play the red-ball format,” Bryant said.
“I was 12th man earlier this year when we had a lot of (Test) players in Dubai.
“It has happened pretty quickly this season but it has been good to play world-class attacks like the touring teams and see what it is going to be like at the next level up.’’