Australia has had more than its fair share of cricketing hard luck tales. You only have to think back to the likes of Martin Love and Stuart Law who both have first class records the envy of many yet could not get anywhere near selection, or more recently to Brad Hodge and Chris Rogers whose records perhaps merited greater opportunities at a higher level.
Yet while failing to get a chance is just plain unlucky, actually taking that chance and then having it ripped away from you by fate is far more of a hard luck story. In that regard Yorkshire’s newest overseas arrival Phil Jaques probably has the hardest luck of all.
Given his current status way off the radar for Australia’s new selection team it seems hard to believe that just over three years ago it was Jaques who was the man charged with leading Australia at the top of the order when Justin Langer retired. With a fine record of almost 50 in first class cricket, a cameo in Langer’s absence against South Africa in 2005 and consistent ODI progress to fall back on he was the obvious choice.
Indeed such was expectation regarding him that as early as 2005, Steve Waugh said: “In the long term, Australia is lucky to have a player like him coming through. He has the ability to win a match. He is the prototype for young players who want to play for Australia.”
Full-time promotion however did little to stem his run scoring as his maiden Test series contained two hundreds in the series with Sri Lanka, and he followed that with three fifties in the hotly contested series with India before finishing the West Indies series with another century.
Then fate, or rather a problematic disc in his back, intervened. While on Australia’s tour of India he succumbed to it after years of careful management and found himself unable to get up out of his chair. Operation was followed by operation when a replacement disc was inserted, enabling him to be back playing cricket after 12 months out.
Yet when he returned he found an Australian team which had quickly moved on, with Watson and Katich opening after the rise and fall of Hughes, while Jaques had lost his Cricket Australia contract and out of favour because, as he put it: “It’s hard to be remembered when you’re out injured for a year.”
Now over two years on from his return, he remains very much on the outside looking in. Despite the continued decline of Australia’s form particularly in Test Cricket, Jaques has barely registered despite the continued travails of Hughes and Watson at the top of the order and a Test and first class record of 47 and 49 respectively which puts him near the top of Australia’s current list of batsman playing the game.
In part that is reflective of his own troubles to fully shake off the effects of the injury he sustained-his average per season has never risen above 40 since his injury-but also of Australia’s own desire to look to a brighter, younger future with NSW team-mates Hughes and David Warner just two of the players above him in the pecking order for openers despite their inferior records.
Not that Jaques himself is giving up on his dream of returning to play Test cricket just yet, and earlier this year he stated: “I wouldn’t be playing if I didn’t think I could get back there. I enjoy playing first-class cricket, but I love to play in Test cricket and I’d love the opportunity to play again.
Returning to County Cricket, and Yorkshire in particular where his record of 2,477 runs at 61 is formidable, is the next natural step in his progression. Though a recall remains a long way away, with an Ashes summer looming, a prolific County season could yet stick in the selector’s minds.
At a time when Australia’s batting resources have seldom been weaker, Jaques will hope to remind the selectors just what he has done before, and what he hopes he can achieve again.
Pitched Up: Full and Straight 