Heading into an Australian summer, the selection of the cricket team is always a hot topic on everyone’s mind.
This summer has been no different with perhaps one of the most speculated selection battles in recent history.
With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to look at some obscure selections that could be considered surprising or inspired, whichever way you look at it.
Bryce McGain: To start us off is a consistent performer at Premier Cricket level for Prahan throughout the late 1990s and 2000s with a state debut in 2002.
However, he could not break into a strong Victorian team which had household names holding the spinner position such as Shane Warne and Cameron White. In 2007 things would change for McGain and he would become a regular of the Shield side, finishing the 2007/08 season with 38 wickets at 34.15 runs per wicket.
McGain was selected for an Australia A tour of India during September of 2008. He would back this up in the 2008/09 season, catching the eye of the Australian selectors. McGain was announced as a member of the touring party for the Australian tour of South Africa in early 2009.
The 36-year-old’s selection was most definitely a surprise to a lot of people, even himself. He managed to miss the connecting flight from Melbourne to Sydney where the squad would take off.
He landed in South Africa the morning after the rest of the squad, getting him off to a good start. From there he was only told 75 minutes before play that he would be representing his country.
Once McGain got on the field, things got even worse for him. He was hit around by the South African batters to the tune of 0 for 149. Smacked around by Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, the Test career of Bryce McGain was over before it could even begin.
The Victorian leg spinner played his last first-class game just a year and a half later. Before long he had faded back into the ranks of premier cricket where he had emerged from.
Sam Heazlett. (AAP Image/David Crosling)
Sam Heazlett: Next up is someone known more for his Shield exploits as a young batter than his one-day record. In fact, he had found himself in illustrious company after his debut season having racked up 649 runs at 40.56.
From there Heazlett got more experience with the Australia A squad in the winter of 2016. Over the course of the winter Heazlett would make his list A debut, something that will prove important later.
Heazlett would struggle in his second Shield season, only managing to score 283 runs at 20.21. This did not deter the Australian selectors though who decided to take Heazlett to New Zealand as part of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series in early 2017. This selection came as the authorities decided not to take the captain and vice-captain at the time, Steve Smith and David Warner.
In the first ODI Heazlett would find his name on the team sheet. The remarkable thing about this debut was that Heazlett had not played a List A game for his state yet. This made Heazlett a part of history as the first Australian to do that. From there, Heazlett’s day would not exactly go to plan.
He came into bat at six and would only manage to make four runs of off 11 balls before being caught behind off the bowling of New Zealand speedster Lochie Ferguson.
From there Heazlett would become a consistent member of Queensland’s Shield and one-day sides but has not played for his state since October 2023.
Brett Dorey: His story was one of a man lost in the wilderness of cricket. Dorey had played under-age cricket for Western Australian but took some time away from cricket to travel. A snowboarding accident almost ended his sporting career, but he managed to recover from it.
During this time Dorey found work as a bodyguard for a wealthy Russian businessman while living in London.
Dorey would eventually move back to Perth and start turning out for his former stomping grounds of the Fremantle Cricket Club. There was a slight issue though as Dorey had packed on weight compared to his playing days as he weighed 125 kilos at his heaviest. A big preseason before his return would help him to shed that extra weight.
The journeyman would eventually make his domestic debut at the age of 27 in the 2004-05 season. However, his debut would not be one to remember as Dorey would only bowl three overs and go for 16 runs. But he would only improve from there. He ended his maiden domestic season with 23 Shield wickets and four in the one-dayers.
His run of good form caught the eyes of the selectors who included him in the squad for the 2005-06 tri-series. Dorey debuted on January 20 at Docklands Stadium, Melbourne with his cap being presented to him by Mark Taylor. Oddly enough this means that Dorey’s debut game was to be played indoors.
This wouldn’t faze Dorey though as his maiden wicket was none other than the legendary South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock. That would be his only wicket for the night and in the other two games in the series he went wicketless.
Dorey played one more game for his country in April of that year away to Bangladesh. He only played 49 List A games and 44 first-class games in total. He retired after the 2010/11 season and now works in the offshore oil and gas industry.
James Muirhead: The story of spinners between the retirement of the great Shane Warne and the emergence of the GOAT, Nathan Lyon, is littered with strange choices and one of the strangest is that of Muirhead.
To be fair to him as a leg spinner from the same premier club as Warne it was always going to be hard to avoid comparisons. He was seen as a gun bowler in juniors and a handy batter as well.
At the age of 18 Muirhead was thrust into the big bash, playing for the Adelaide Strikers. Following that, his services would be chased by both the South Australian and Victorian cricket teams. This would become a matter of controversy as South Australia were judged to have attempted to sign Muirhead in an improper manner. As a result of this, they were fined $15,000.
Muirhead would make his first-class debut the next season before playing in a tour match against an England XI before they went on to lose the Ashes 5-0. However, this season would be the one where Muirhead would come into national contention.
With just two first-class games and four BBL games to his name, Muirhead debuted for Australia in the T20 series against England following the Ashes. He took four wickets in three games. This would be enough for the national selectors who chose to include the Victorian leg-spinner in the squad for the T20 world cup in Bangladesh.
Muirhead played two games before being axed. He play his last first-class and List A games that same year before a degenerative wrist condition began to wreak havoc.
The youngster went three years without playing professionally. In that time, he attempted numerous comebacks, but none were successful. He would finally make a successful return to cricket in the 2017/18 season with the Perth Scorchers after playing in St Kilda’s second XI that season.
Featuring in two games, his last professional game would be new year’s day 2018 at the tender age of 24. He now plays sub-district cricket for Sunshine United in a far cry from playing international cricket a decade earlier. In an even further departure from his previous life as a professional cricketer, he is now employed as a sales engineer at Mettler-Toledo International Inc., a company that specialises in manufacturing laboratory instruments.
Luke Pomersbach: This story is full of ups and downs but is nonetheless extremely entertaining. Growing up in the streets of South-East Perth, Pomersbach was an exciting talent from a young age. At the age of 22 he would make his debut for Western Australia in the domestic one-day cup.
He also made a century against an England XI in that same season. From there his star would rise but discipline issues would also plague him and bring down his career in the end.
Along with Shaun Marsh he was banned by WA in November 2007 due to a late-night drinking session which broke team rules. It was this suspension which eventually led bizarrely to Pomersbach making his debut for Australia.
As he was banned from playing in the one-day competition, Pomersbach had grown bored while his teammates were playing and decided to fill in some time by going to a T20 international against Sri Lanka with his girlfriend.
It was while parking his car that Pomersbach’s life changed forever. Australian middle order batter Brad Hodge had slipped over in the changeroom while putting his pants on and had injured himself badly. This unfortunate injury meant he would take no part in the match.
The Australian selectors knew Pomersbach was in attendance at the match and the call was put out to him to come down to the changeroom and put on the green and gold for Australia. What made it even more crazy was that Pomersbach ended up wearing Hodge’s playing clothes including his jersey with the nickname “Dodgeball” on the back. This was despite his brother Gavin rushing back to Pomersbach’s house to retrieve his playing gear but by the time he got back to the ground the game had already started.
From there, Australia would bat first and Pomersbach would walk out in the 17th over with the score at 4/151. His innings would not last a long time (seven balls) but he provided entertainment nonetheless hitting a four and a large six over midwicket before being dismissed for 15. Australia would finish at 6/186 which turned out to be too much for New Zealand who were all out for 132.
After the match, Pomersbach would return to his suspension from the WACA. His career would take a dark turn as multiple criminal incidents and mental health issues cause him to retire in 2014 at the age of 30. Nowadays Pomersbach is as far away from professional cricket as you could be working in a fishing shop in Mandurah.
Michael Beer: Finishing our stroll down memory lane is “Frosty”, as he was known. He emerged from the Victorian premier cricket scene, having played at Shane Warne’s former club St Kilda just like James Muirhead would a few years later.
He dominated the first XI competition for a number of years, including taking over 100 wickets in two seasons. However, he found it hard to get a game in the Victorian in part due to the aforementioned McGain. So, Beer would move over to WA in the 2010/11 season where he would debut against his former state in all three formats.
During this time the Ashes were on and Australia was struggling. In particular, the Australians were struggling to contain England’s batters including one Kevin Pietersen. Having made a double hundred in Adelaide, the selectors were desperate to find any way to combat his batting ability.
Left-arm orthodox spin was one idea floated to curb Pietersen’s influence on the series with Xavier Doherty playing in Adelaide although his performance was nothing extraordinary. Beer would be added to the squad before the Perth Test, having only played five first-class matches up to that point.
In the last Test of the series in Sydney, Beer made his surprising debut. He would not bowl amazingly but did not disgrace himself. His maiden wicket of Alastair Cook would be denied due to a front foot no-ball. However eventually he would get Paul Collingwood out for 13. Beer would become more known for what happened at the end of the match though.
As the last man dismissed in Australia’s loss which gifted England their first series win in Australia in an Ashes in 24 years. As he was bowled by Chris Tremlett, commentator Nasser Hussain exclaimed “Put the beer away, put the champagne on ice.”
From there Beer would play one more Test in the West Indies in 2012 where he opened the bowling in both innings. A career as an effective T20 bowler followed before his retirement in 2019.
While there have been some obscure selections in Australian cricket over the previous two decades it can be said that more often than not the right selection is made.
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