Cricket Gold Coast instigates major shakeup of talent pathways as funding pulled from Queensland Country

A major shakeup of Gold Coast’s cricket talent pathways is on the cards in a move that has divided the community. FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

A MAJOR shakeup of Gold Coast’s cricket talent pathways is on the cards in a move that has divided the community.

Cricket Gold Coast is in discussions to strengthen its alignment to the city’s premier club, the Dolphins, in a bid to provide better opportunities for players from under-16s through to grade cricket.

But in doing so it has begun stepping away from the traditional Queensland Country pathway that has long provided senior players, from competitions like the Kookaburra Cup, who are no longer playing premier grade cricket a chance to feature in representative games and a second-chance for younger players to be identified for higher honours.

Cricket Gold Coast president Ryan Kettle said there had been a “priority shift” and a “refocus” on the city’s talent structures after choosing not to fund a Queensland Country team.

“Our priority is for the pathways for our juniors and seniors to go through the Gold Coast Dolphins this year,” Kettle said.

“We have gone away from the Queensland Country cricket set up and we haven’t put funding behind it or participated in it for the first time in a long time.

“It is about pushing in the correct direction to funnel our best players into the Gold Coast Dolphins and through grade cricket.

“We are meeting with the Dolphins nearly every second week in regards to the systems. The junior academy programs will align a lot closer with the Dolphins and the junior representative teams will be named the Dolphins.

“We are also working on a potential senior academy that could play in our T20 competition later this year.

Claye Beams and a Dolphins junior Alessia Ulpiano.

“Other avenues include player identification programs that can feed players into the Dolphins who possibly missed out on representative cricket or who could be late bloomers.”

Kettle said it wasn’t a financial decision where they had to choose one or the other, with the money that has traditionally been used to fund the Queensland Country senior side not being re-directed to the Dolphins.

The decision has drawn the ire of some senior players who were forced to create a rebel Gold Coast representative in order to compete for Queensland Country recently in a move that has led to four players landing a shot at nationals.

When told Gold Coast cricket wouldn’t fund this season’s men’s representative team, Claye Beams, Shamus Robertson and Jonathan Smith pushed on to create the ‘Gold Coast Invitational’ team so the Glitter Strip had representation in higher levels of cricket.

They selected a team, with funding from Queensland Country cricket, that made it through to the grand final of the Bulls Masters competition and also featured in the Schaeffer Shield.

Six Gold Coast players, including Beams, Kevin Chapman, Josh Nelson, Sam Yabsley, Phil Tunnicliffe and Reece McDonald were then named in the South Queensland team, with only the latter two not making it through to the Queensland Country side.

“It is pretty cool to be part of (the Queensland Country side),” Beams said.

Kookaburra Cup players hoping to earn selection for higher honours may hit some hurdles. Picture: Mike Batterham

“I am pretty competitive so any chance to play at a higher level is exciting.

“I have never been to nationals so I have no idea how we will go but we have a pretty good team.

“When we found out Cricket Gold Coast wasn’t funding it we put together a rebel invitational side. We started the process about 12 months ago with the end goal to get as many Gold Coast guys on the Queensland Country team as possible

“The number of players in the side shows how important Gold Coast is to that level of cricket and the quality of players coming out of the city.”

Queensland Country players will attend a three-day camp in April before competing at nationals in Albury.

Cricket Gold Coast junior president Craig Mallory said the governing body has been reassessing the current structures, with concerns surrounding a lack of conversion from players in Queensland Country to higher levels of cricket.

“We have been unsure about how our junior players can get a true pathway in the current Country program as it is set up,” Mallory said.

“From 13 to 15 you play purely for Queensland and then from 16-years-old the Country program comes into play.

“There seems to be a disjoint from under-16 Queensland Country championships before senior stuff, so where does that kid go?

“A player in under-17s could make it to a Queensland team and the Country program keeps others player and developing but you can’t really play state underage and Sheffield Shield through Queensland Country as it stands.”