Mumbai: Over his 18-month Test jaunt, Adam Voges left behind a lifetime of lessons. At 35 when batters were at the sunset of their careers, the Australian marked his arrival with a hundred on debut in 2015, delivered two double hundreds over 20 Tests, until his runs dried up and he was discarded in a decisive selection call.
Voges’ journey provided some critical selection insights as to why some players peak late and only a few are offered the privilege of getting a long rope. “When you make your debut at 35, you probably know you are there for a good time, not a long time,” Voges told HT.
Earlier this month, Voges was in Mumbai with Western Australian Premier Roger Cook to promote WA’s strength, industries and opportunities to international audiences. Now coaching Perth Scorchers, Voges ranks highly among candidates tipped to take over the Australia coaching job from Andrew McDonald next year.
“Andrew’s done an amazing job and that job is his for as long as he wants. If that position opens up, I would absolutely, from an ambition point of view, love to one day be an international coach,” said Voges.
Ageing Australian bowlers
The transition narrative has been dominant in Australian cricket circles with fear that age could catch up with their strongest weapon – the bowling attack. The pace trio – Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are 36, 35 and 33 respectively. Lead spinner Nathan Lyon is 38.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that the Australian bowling attack is an ageing one,” Voges said. “They’ve been such wonderful performers for a long period, incredibly resilient. I guess what we probably don’t want to see is them all finish at the same time and then you’re left with a huge hole.
“They will probably get the right to have an idea when they would like to finish. But none of us are immune to performance. We all need to keep performing, and perform at a high level. Australia has an enormous amount of Test cricket coming up in the next 12 months, including an Ashes and a Border-Gavaskar Trophy. So along with South Africa (away) and a home New Zealand series, how those ageing fast bowlers get managed will be interesting to watch.”
With players who don’t have age on their side, a slide in performance is monitored more closely as Voges himself found out. In India, the selection committee’s known reservations over betting on 39-year-old Rohit Sharma for the 2027 ODI World Cup were based on them spotting a dip in consistency, batting rhythm and fitness markers.
Like their pacers, Australia will have to take a call on the 145-Test Nathan Lyon too. With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy coming up next January the off-spinner would need to be at his best.
“Nathan’s obviously coming back…he’s had a couple of major soft tissue injuries and he’s rehabbed his way back. I still think he’s got a really important role to play and in the Indian conditions, he’s going to be really important if Australia are going to be successful.
“How Australia transitions past Nathan will be something that they need to plan for. But I’ll put him in that same category along with Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins. I still think he’s got a strong 12 months and I hope that ends up being the case.”
T20 not just for the young
The age factor, Voges said, is less relevant in T20 cricket. Sometimes, the older you are, the better chance you have of absorbing pressure. “T20 in particular is about performing under pressure and so experience, game sense, ability to understand what the game needs at a certain moment and that ability to be able to execute under pressure. That’s really what the game is about,” said Voges, who has transitioned to coaching in global T20 leagues from Western Australia. “So, I don’t think you ever need to put an age limit – young or old to be able to do that.
“We still see someone like Rohit Sharma playing some really good, strong T20 cricket, probably at the back end of his career and then an up-and-coming star like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has got the world at his feet. So, the contrast in terms of age demographic, you can be as effective and successful in the game. I don’t necessarily subscribe to T20 being a young man’s game. You need to be athletic, have some physical attributes, but be able to make good decisions under pressure and execute your skills.”
Sooryavanshi and managing expectations
With Sooryavanshi, being so young brings other challenges. “For a young man, it’s about managing expectations. He’s burst on to the scene, done so well so young in his career and with that comes high level of expectations. So, it’s as much about managing that,” Voges said.
“The second part is now everyone gets to see a bit of him, there’ll be a lot of planning, there’ll be a lot of preparation going into how to combat the way he plays. So, as a cricketer, you’re always trying to stay one step ahead of the plans that the opposition are going to try, but continuing to lean on your strengths as well. He’s a wonderful talent and already shown that he is a class act at this level. How he deals with the pressure and the expectation, that will be the next real challenge.”
