Australia v Sri Lanka T20: Billy Stanlake adds 6kg to beanpole frame
Billy Stanlake is set to fulfil his promise and become Australia’s next great fast bowler thanks to an off-season transformation that has seen him bulk up his beanpole frame.
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Big Billy Stanlake is going to need a new nickname.
It’s now Bigger Billy Stanlake. The version set to be unleashed against Sri Lanka at the Gabba tonight has stacked on 6kg since last summer.
“It started with breakfast,” Stanlake told the Herald Sun.
“I would get to training and by the time I started I was hungry. I was like, ‘I can’t keep training like this’, so I started having four eggs, a bowl of oats and some fruit in the morning.
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“That probably made me hungrier throughout the day, so I was eating more.
“I found myself putting on about a kilo a week. It’s all been muscle and I think it’s going to protect my back and my bones.”
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Protecting Billy’s back and bones is important. Australia hosts the Twenty20 World Cup in 12 months and Stanlake – if he stays fit – is an important part of the plans.
At 204cm Stanlake is the tallest cricketer to ever play for Australia and he bowls fast and aggressive.
Ricky Ponting said last year that, with a bit more weight, he could wind up “one of the all-time great fast bowlers”.
“He’s almost seven feet tall, bowls close to 150km (and) can swing the new ball,” Ponting said.
“He’s got a little nasty streak in him as well – he likes bowling bouncers.”
Well, suddenly Stanlake tips the scales at 96.5kg, becoming more bulk than beanpole, and that towering release point is his point of difference.
“It’s that extra bounce factor that can really catch out a batsman,” Stanlake, who turns 25 on Monday, said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to hit the stumps though as a tall fella, but the bounce is the biggest attribute that’s going to help me.”
As selector Trevor Hohns said, the skyscraper from Gold Coast is captain Aaron Finch’s X-Factor.
But last summer Stanlake dipped to 90kg and, with that, his pace also trailed off.
So after churning out 27 overs in a rare Sheffield Shield game in March, Stanlake jetted to India as David Warner’s IPL teammate.
Stanlake sat on the bench as Warner pumped runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but he spent the rest of the time pumping weights in the gym.
“Halfway through pre-season I started that diet change and just started stacking on weight. I was like, ‘Am I getting too heavy here’ but I think it’s been great,” Stanlake said.
“I was a bit worried at the time, but I think it’s been a great benefit for me.
“It’s gone everywhere. A little bit through the top and then in through the trunk.
“I’m not eating any sugar or junk food and it all started from that breakfast change.”
Stanlake lives alone but the gains began through the Rocky Balboa-esque breakfast binge and a freezer full of pre-cooked meals, prepared by his mum, Robin.
Rewind eight years and Stanlake was standing at full-forward as an AFL hopeful.
“I kicked 6.6 one game, so I stuffed up my chance to kick 10,” he said.
Stanlake played juniors with Andrew Boston, who played 16 games for Gold Coast, while other brother Jack was on the Suns’ list in 2011.
His dad, Warren, grew up in Kyneton and played one game for Footscray in 1981, but advised Billy to give footy the boot when he made the Australian Under-19 cricket team.
Stanlake missed footy so much the next year that he nearly unpacked the boots a few rounds in.
But with a World Cup on the horizon and a more robust frame there are no regrets for the man with an old-fashioned game plan.
So, what can Sri Lanka batsman expect tonight?
“I’m fast and aggressive. There’s a couple of slower balls in the back of my repertoire, but generally it’s being fast and aggressive.”