The best young stars in Australia – and the ones who are ready for international honours NOW as revealed by state coaches

A combination of Steve Smith and David Warner, a two-metre tall quick with an even higher ceiling, and a Queensland bolter for a baggy green – Sheffield Shield coaches predict their next Australian stars and reveal the talent coming through the pipeline.

A combination of Steve Smith and David Warner, a two-metre tall quick with an even higher ceiling, and a Queensland bolter for a baggy green – just some of the prospects to come out of CODE Sports’ survey of every men’s domestic cricket coach ahead of the summer.

Ahead of the start of the domestic season, CODE Sports caught up with all six men’s state coaches to get the answers to two questions: which young guns should we be looking out for, and who is ready to push for national selection.

Every coach was asked to nominate a single player for each category, but only one was able to limit himself.

NSW

One of the opening batters for Australia’s World Cup-winning Under-19 side last summer, the hype around Konstas has been steadily building. Mentored by Shane Watson and backed to be Australia’s long-term Test opener by Kerry O’Keeffe, Konstas debuted for the Blues last November and finished the season in style with a maiden first-class half-century in Brisbane.

It’s the ease with which Konstas made the step-up from grade cricket to first-class cricket, and his mentality, that impresses veteran NSW coach Greg Shipperd.

“He looked really comfortable at the level, and just keeps improving now that he’s been involved in a professional environment,” Shipperd said. “We think there’s big things to come from him.

“For someone so young, he (Konstas) has a real, terrific understanding of his game, of batting itself. He’s balanced, he’s poised, he’s confident, and he’s got a love of the game that’s really appropriate.”

Shipperd also singled out rising quicks Nisbet and Salzmann.

Nisbet played seven matches for NSW last summer, with his best work coming with the red ball. He took 18 wickets at an impressive 22.55 despite coming in and out of the side for more experienced quicks.

“There were times when he didn’t get that follow up opportunity after performing well when he did get his chance,” Shipperd said. “There’s been a growth of knowledge for him, the body’s getting bigger and stronger. He’s understanding the bowling process and the demands and coping quite well with those. He’s one to watch out for.”

“Salzmann is another. He came second in the white ball format in wickets taken in his first season involved. We’ve a pot of players there that we’re really encouraged by.”

Asked to nominate the next Blue to get an Australia call-up, Shipperd called out legspinner Sangha – who has played white ball cricket for Australia but shows promise across all three formats – explosive batter Davies and new captain Edwards.

“Our most obvious one is Tanveer Sangha, who has played for the country, but just continues to take giant steps when he’s afforded the opportunity to play,” Shipperd said.

“He had some unfortunate injuries along the way, and it took him a while to get over them, but he’s had a really solid preseason, and we’re expecting big things from him.”

Having already made a name for himself as a T20 weapon, Davies took the Shield by storm last summer (670 runs at 67). It earned him comparisons to Steve Smith, David Warner and Philip Hughes from NSW veteran Moises Henriques.

He’s very hard to stop. He’s always moving the scoreboard forward,” Henriques said in March.

“He reminds me a lot of a mix between Steve Smith, David Warner and even Phil Hughes — they’re always looking to score runs.”

Shipperd is excited too.

“His red ball batting was spectacular last season,” he said. “I’m sure the opposition are going to put a lot of homework into him, but he’s also putting homework into his own game. He’s got a very fruitful career ahead of him in all three formats of the game.”

After a stop-start career to date, all-rounder Edwards pulled all the right pieces together last season and heads into this as NSW’s new captain.

“It’s the right time for him to be exposed to leadership, particularly with Moises still around. We’re very confident he’s the right person to take New South Wales forward.”

QUEENSLAND

New Queensland coach Johan Botha is very excited by the young brigade coming through the Bulls system right now.

Weibgen captained Australia to Under-19 World Cup glory last summer, and was among the tournament’s top-five run-scorers. He’s still awaiting his first taste of professional domestic cricket, but impressed for local side Valley in Queensland’s T20 Max. He’s joined in Queensland this season by Australia Under-19s teammate Straker – the young quick making the move up from NSW.

“We’ve all been impressed with him, and certainly think he can make his Shield debut this summer,” Botha said of Straker, who lit up the Under-19 World Cup semi-final with a six-wicket haul.

The most unheralded of the four is fast bowler Ryan, who was playing second XI grade cricket last year.

“He’s a bit of a dark horse,” Botha said. “No one will really know him, but they’ll soon hopefully get to know him.”

The oldest of the quartet, Burdon, made his List A debut last season and has been impressing in the lead-up to this campaign, notching a ton in a recent warm-up match against Tasmania.

“He’s a very fit guy, great runner, he’s ticked all the boxes,” Botha said.

“If things go their way and they play the way we want them to, all of them could have a breakout season.”

Botha says all of Queensland is pulling for Matthew Renshaw to get another crack at the top of the order for Australia if a spot opens up. Among the uncapped members of his squad, it’s Clayton who excites him.

Clayton managed 555 runs at an average of 32.64 in the Shield last summer, including two centuries. The second of those was of particular note, a fighting 102 in a team total of 160 against Tasmania.

“He showed glimpses last year,” Botha said. “With a bit more experience, and us backing him, if he gets a nice start to the summer, he can go really big.”

Clayton is yet to take a first-class wicket, but his left-arm wrist-spin has caught the eye of Botha who believes he would be a handy addition when Australia tour Sri Lanka early next year.

“If you get to subcontinent wickets and spinning wickets, he could definitely add some value with left arm spin as a batter in the top six.

“I don’t think he’d be the worst guy to take on that trip, even if he might not play or make a debut yet. He won’t look out of place in a Test squad.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

New South Australia coach Ryan Harris showed admirable discipline by naming just the one young gun to look out for this summer.

He’s a name that could sound familiar: Liam Scott

Nearly five years on from his first-class debut, Scott is still only 23 and Harris sees a very good player coming together.

Three summers ago (2021-22) Scott impressed with bat and ball in the Sheffield Shield – averaging 20.83 and 20.15 respectively. He tailed off in the seasons to follow, but last summer he looked back on track, posting similar numbers before having his season curtailed by an ankle injury. Harris is hopeful he will be back with a bang.

“He’s showed some good maturity over the last couple of years. He’s a good all round player that fits nicely for us,” Harris said. “South Australia went and got him as an under-19 cricketer and saw, saw the talent in him. He has taken a couple years to find his feet and work out the game.

“He’s one that hopefully will play a big role for us this year.”

An old school opener with a sound technique, Hunt was knocking on the door for Test selection a couple of seasons ago before enduring a year-and-a-half century drought.

He ended that barren run with a ton in South Australia’s three-run win over Queensland at the Gabba in November, and Harris sees a Test opener in him.

“He looks like he’s starting to work it out again,” Harris said. “His technique’s nice when he’s on, as good as anyone and he has a good temperament as an opening batter.

“It’s just finding the formula now that works for him, that’s going to be consistent and going to get him back up around the leading run scorers of the competition.”

Harris also called out recent Australia A players Nathan McAndrew and Nathan McSweeney as two men geared for big seasons.

TASMANIA

Runners up in the Sheffield Shield and improved performers in the One-Day Cup, Tasmania’s success last summer was built largely on their all-rounders.

And coach Jeff Vaughan is excited by the crop coming through right now.

Heavy-hitting, fast-bowling all-rounder Owen enjoyed a breakout summer, and Vaughan has high hopes for uncapped duo Davis and O’Connor. The coach also liked what he saw from Brad Hope (25) last season, who kicked on after joining the Tigers from Western Australia in 2021.

“Ultimately, we want to get young all-rounders batting as high as possible and bowling as many overs as possible in all formats of the game,” Vaughan said of the glut of all-rounders.

“It’s clearly where the world game is going. You need to be at least a two dimensional player. Those who can be three dimensional with the fielding as well, there’s an exciting package for their career over the coming decades, in any format and wherever they may play.”

No surprises here whatsoever.

Webster was domestic cricket’s best performer last season. Daylight was second.

The rangy all-rounder was the Sheffield Shield’s top run-scorer (938 at 58.62) and finished just outside the top 10 for wickets (30 at 29.30) with his canny combination of off-spin and the occasional seam-up delivery. He shone in the One-Day Cup (315 runs at 52.50, seven wickets at 34.42) as well, and has been long established as one of the BBL’s most dynamic players.

But he still hasn’t played a game for Australia in any format. That’s something Tasmania wants to see change.

“We would hope that Beau gets rewarded for his consistent form with both bat and ball,” Vaughan said. “There will be some Australia A opportunities throughout the summer.

“He was by far the most dominant player in the competition last year.

“Probably the most exciting part, from our perspective at Cricket Tasmania, is not just what he did on the field, but his leadership and his connection of our group off the field. That plays a huge role within our team.”

VICTORIA

With Nic Maddinson joining NSW, Travis Dean left off the contract list and Will Pucovski’s future unclear, there is a hole at the top of the order for Victoria. Coach Chris Rogers sees Chandrasinghe and Kellaway filling it.

Chandrasinghe grabbed headlines in 2022 when he scored a century on Sheffield debut, but played the most recent of his nine first-class matches in March last year. Having put in the hard yards at club level, he’s expected to play a significant role for Victoria this summer.

Campbell has been a regular in Victoria’s Shield side since debuting in late 2022, and shown promise with five half-centuries across 20 matches. Rogers is backing him to take the next step in his development this summer.

“They’re both resilient young men who work unbelievably hard on their game,” Rogers said. “They very rarely get frustrated and they know it’s a journey. So they’re always improving, and they’ve got the right kind of mindset to thrive.

“We’re hopeful that they’re going to do a really good job for us at the top of the order.”

On the bowling front, Rogers nominated beanpole quicks Sam Elliott – son of Victoria great Matt, and aged out of our list at 24 – and McClure, who stands at over 2m tall.

“We know it takes a little bit longer with guys who are that tall, but when it clicks for them, they’re going to have a really high ceiling.”

Rogers expects all four of them to benefit from having senior heads like Peter Handscomb and Marcus Harris around the team – two men he says are at very good places in their career both for themselves and the squad.

He’s had a taste of ODI and T20I cricket for Australia, but Rogers sees a serious Test player in Short.

An aggressive batter, handy spinner and excellent fielder, Short showed how effective a first-class player he can be in the 2022-23 season when he averaged 41.53 with the bat and 21.50 with the ball.

Rogers likens Short’s skillset to that of Travis Head.

“There’s not a lot of players in the Australian domestic first class system that are able to put a lot of pressure back on the bowlers,” he said.

“With Shorty, he’s got all the shots, he hits the ball hard, he’s unbelievably skilled.

“If he can play well, score some good runs, Australian selectors will be looking really closely.”

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Having won the past three Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cups, Western Australian cricket is in an incredibly healthy place and the factory line continues to produce talent.

Last summer saw eight players debut for the Warriors across first-class and List A cricket, including all-rounder Connolly and rising quick Haskett – two young men coach Adam Voges is very excited about.

Pressed to call-out one young gun, Voges named batterJayden Goodwin. The son of former Zimbabwe and WA batter Murray Goodwin, Jayden debuted for Western Australia in 2021 but only established himself in the side last summer (421 at 32.38).

“It was really exciting to see Jayden Goodwin cement his spot at number three in the Shield line-up,” Voges said. “He played particularly well when he got his opportunities last year.

“He’s had to score a lot of runs to get his opportunity, but then he’s been able to take those chances when they’ve come.

“Ever since Shaun Marsh retired, we’ve been looking to fill that number three role and we’ve had a number of guys go through there, but it was certainly nice to see Jayden put his hand up last year.”

Yet to make his Australia debut at the time of the interview, Voges nominated Connolly as the next West Australian to make the step up to national level.

Connolly got two games for Australia in its recent T20I tour of the UK. Voges is confident there are plenty more to come given how quickly Connolly has established himself as a man for the big occasion.

The all-rounder first grabbed national attention in 2023 with his unbeaten 25 off 11 to turn the tide of a BBL final, and last summer made his first-class debut in the Sheffield Shield final. He duly turned out a first-innings 90 at a key point in the game.

“He’s incredibly exciting as a talent,” Voges said. “He hasn’t played a lot of cricket just yet but there’s a maturity about him and his game.

“He’s a pretty laid back character and I think that certainly helps him in those big pressure moments.”

Originally published as The best young stars in Australia – and the ones who are ready for international honours NOW as revealed by state coaches