Billy Stanlake discusses the past, the future, the rivals he fears and the state of Australian cricket
AS he prepares for a Gold Coast homecoming in Saturday night’s historic T20 at Metricon Stadium, Billy Stanlake sits down with the Bulletin to discuss the past, the future, the rivals he fears and the state of Australian cricket.
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HE will be part of history on Saturday night when he lines up for Australia in the Gold Coast’s first international fixture - but it hasn’t been a smooth ride to the top for towering hometown paceman Billy Stanlake.
The 24-year-old paceman sits down with Brent O’Neill to discuss the past, the future and the rivals he fears.
PART OF HISTORY
Q. As a Gold Coast boy, you must be stoked to be playing in the city’s first T20 international?
A. Obviously it’s very exciting to play an international game for Australia, let alone to be able to do it at home on the Gold Coast for the first time. It’s exciting for future years as well, hopefully we can keep coming back here and bring more games in the future. All the family are going (on Saturday night) and a few friends are going so it’s going to be exciting. I’ve played in front of my family and friends plenty of times before so I don’t think that’s going to be any more nerve-racking having them there.
Q. The Big Bash will be here soon too - could you ever see the day the Coast gets its own BBL side?
A. I think it definitely has potential. Obviously the Heat are playing some games there this year so hopefully this game on Saturday night and the Brisbane Heat games in the big Bash become a success and hopefully we can start taking more cricket up there. I can definitely see the potential to have a Big Bash team there.
A BORN SPEED DEMON
Q. Talk us through the Billy Stanlake journey. How did cricket become part of your life?
A. I started playing cricket in the backyard with my brother (Jack) growing up and then I went into Milo Cricket and that sort of stuff. Once I got to the Gold Coast (from Hervey Bay aged six) I played underage cricket and moved around a few clubs … Southport Labrador, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. Then I went on to the Gold Coast Dolphins when I was about 16 to play Lord’s Taverner’s.
Q. Looking back now, do you think you always had that natural ability?
A. I always had a bit of natural ability I guess. I played rep cricket pretty much all the way through from under-12s until senior cricket. I was always one of the taller ones in the group but I shot up around 14 or 15 and then I’ve been about the height I am now (204cm) since I was about 16. I always had a bit of natural pace growing up and I’ve been able to gradually put more pace on each year as I’ve spent time in the gym.
A HORROR INJURY RUN
Q. You’ve had a horror run with injuries in the past. That must have been tough.
A. Probably (from) when I was about 16, 17 I had a period of five years where it was one stress fracture after the other. Luckily the last 18 months or two years now I haven’t had any major bone problems, it’s just been a couple of fingers and the infected toe that I had last year. It’s been nice to have a couple of years where I haven’t had any major bony injuries. I had three (stress fractures) in the back, one in each foot and one in the pelvis so it was all over the place. It’s taught me the hard way about how to take care of your body so there’s some positives there as well as the negatives.
FEARS FOR THE FUTURE
Q. Were there times you feared you may never reach the heights you have?
A. Once you spend 10 months rehabbing and working your way back to playing and you get two games into playing again and you’re injured again and have to spend another 10 months on the sideline, you go through that five or six times in a row and you always have a few doubts your body is ever going to be right.
Q. How’s the ball coming out at the moment and how is the body feeling?
A. I’m really happy how it’s going, I’m really happy with how I bowled in Dubai in the T20s (against Pakistan last month) and then it’s been coming out well back in training and club cricket on the weekend. The body’s in really good nick so I’m really happy with how that’s going as well. The more you play the better you get and I think that’s been the difference with being able to play consistently. This has definitely been the longest stretch I’ve played (without injury), over the last 12 months.
RED-BALL DREAMS
Q. What’s the plan for the rest of the season ... any chance of Sheffield Shield action?
A. Not at the moment I don’t think. Obviously we’ve got this T20 series coming up and that pretty much leads right into the Big Bash, so there’s obviously a lot of T20 cricket coming up. I don’t want to look too far ahead but there’s more white-ball cricket for Australia mid-January … but I just want to keep the body feeling good, keep getting through games of cricket. I’m sort of just taking it one block at a time, not wanting to look too far ahead. It’s definitely still a goal of mine (to play Shield and Test cricket). If I can stay injury free for the rest of this season, I think red-ball cricket and Sheffield Shield cricket will come when the time is right. Hopefully it’s not too far off.
Q. Obviously the cultural review into Australian cricket has been in the headlines. What have you made of it all?
A. I think the main thing we’re trying to do is play good, hard, fair cricket. We want to earn the respect back of the public and you do that by winning and you do that by playing the right way. All we can do as a group is concentrate on playing hard but fair cricket for Australia, which we’ve all been working really hard on at training and in the background to get better outcomes on the field. They’re not quite coming at the moment but I’m sure all the work and preparation we’re putting in, it’s not going to be long until it turns around. We’ve got a great group, we get along really well and with the support staff as well. Although it has been tough times without winning, everyone’s working really hard to win games again.
RATING THE RIVALS
Q. You touched on club cricket earlier. As an Australian player, do you feel pressure to dominate when you turn out for Souths?
A. I always make sure that when I go back to club cricket I want to go out there and bowl how I always bowl - bowl fast. I always loved watching Brett Lee growing up, I always tried to bowl like him when I was younger. I do want to make sure I put on a good performance (in club cricket), especially for the guys that you don’t see very often back there. I always want to bowl well, be relaxed and have some fun with the boys at Souths, which I always do. They’re a great bunch so it’s always good to go back and have a bit of a laugh with the boys.
Q. Who would you rate as the three toughest players you’ve bowled to?
A. Probably Jos Buttler, Chris Lynn and Hashim Amla off the top of my head. Jos (pictured) is someone that can score to every part of the ground, that’s what makes him good. It’s something not many guys can do. Lynny with his sheer power hitting, he’s probably one of the best in the world, if not the best, doing that up front. He’s always a big challenge to bowl to. The one time I bowled to Hashim Amla, he was just a beautiful cricket player and played beautiful shots. The more you play the more you learn what works, how to plan for certain teams and all those things that go into preparing for a game.
PLANS FOR SUCCESS
Q. Speaking of preparation, how much work goes into getting ready for a game like the one on Saturday night?
A. You do your individual planning where you go on your computer and watch footage of all the guys and try and see what they do. We’ll go through that as a team in the team meeting, go through all the players, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what potential fields we’ll have and what balls we’ll bowl at the death of the innings. It’s obviously pretty stock standard early on up front with the PowerPlay. It’s also about knowing your plan going into the game so once you’re out in the middle you have your plan and you’re clear. That’s the most important thing.
Q. So how will the team go about beating South Africa at Metricon on Saturday night?
A. I think T20 cricket is very much about the lines you bowl and about having your fields set accordingly and knowing what ball you want to bowl. You’ve got to play to the conditions a little bit with T20 cricket with the dimensions of the field a little bit more. We’ll go through the planning leading up to the game. I think Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and David Miller there are three very experienced batters so I think they’re going to hold a big key to their batting. And then (Kagiso) Rabada up front is probably the dangerman with the ball so if we can contain those guys I think that will go a long way. When you haven’t played for a bit you get a bit more nervous leading into the game ... but once you bowl that first ball you calm down and settle in.”
THE STANLAKE FACT FILE
Age: 24
Born: Hervey Bay (moved to Gold Coast at the age of six)
Lives: Brisbane (formerly Main Beach and Chevron Island)
Height: 204cm
Junior Clubs: Southport Labrador, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach Robina
Senior Clubs: Gold Coast Dolphins (former), South Brisbane (current)
Major Teams: Queensland, Adelaide Strikers (BBL), Sunrisers Hyderabad
Career Highlights:
■ Australian under-19 selection in 2011
■ List A debut vs Tasmania in October 2015 (20 matches)
■ First class debut vs South Australia in November 2015 (two matches)
■ T20 debut vs Sydney Thunder in December 2015 (38 matches)
■ One-Day International debut vs Pakistan in January 2017 (six matches)
■ T20 International debut vs Sri Lanka in February 2017 (15 matches)
■ Won BBL title with Adelaide Strikers in February 2018
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