James Faulkner’s rapid rise in the green and gold has reached new heights, with the Tasmanian named Australia A captain for the two four-day series in July and August.
Faulkner will lead two separate 13-man squads, one against India A in Brisbane and the other versus South Africa A in Townsville.
“James is a young man with plenty of character and possesses a great desire to win,” national chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said.
“He is still developing as an allrounder but we believe this captaincy provides him an opportunity to do that as well as develop his leadership skills.”
The 24-year-old has no first-class captaincy experience, but captained throughout his junior career, and is eager to take charge of his troops when the first four-day match commences on July 6.
“It’s a great time of the year to be playing cricket,” said Faulkner. “Everyone is looking forward to it.
"I know both South Africa and India have very good teams that they’ve listed to come out here to Australia, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Faulkner’s support staff bear familiar faces, with Australia men’s batting coach Michael Di Venuto acting as head coach, while injured fast bowler Ryan Harris will perform the bowling coaching duties.
Di Venuto is not concerned about Faulkner’s lack of captaincy experience, saying the dynamic allrounder has the attributes to become a successful leader.
“He’s a natural leader by the way he performs,” Di Venuto said. “When he’s got the ball in the hand he leads by example and he tries to do the same when he’s batting as well.
“He’s played well for Australia with the bat and led us to some remarkable run chases in short-form cricket.
“It’s an excellent opportunity to lead the Australia A boys and show what he’s got as a captain.”
Both men will be venturing into relatively unknown waters as coach and captain, but Di Venuto says the Tasmanian pair will work well together, and makes no mistake about who’s in control once the umpire calls play.
“It’s quite natural for a coach and captain to be quite close over the four days of a match,” he said.
“There’ll be plenty of times where we’re communicating about different stages of the game and different tactics that may be used.
“But when James crosses the line he’ll be skipper and doing the job out in the field.”
One man who has seen Faulkner’s ascension up close is his former state coach Tim Coyle.
Coyle, now working as batting and fielding coach for the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, believes only a lack of opportunity has stood between his star pupil and leadership.
“He’s a very good student of the game, there’s no doubt about that,” said Coyle. “He’s very absorbed in the game and one of the things for Jim is he’s always had some natural leadership qualities.
“The thing is, he hasn’t had a huge amount of opportunities because being a young player who’s made it through to the first-class system and beyond very quickly can often be detrimental to the opportunities you can have to be captain of a team.
“He’s certainly got the right characteristics and the right qualities to be captain.”
Faulkner debuted in 2008 under Coyle, joining a golden era of Tasmanian cricket which saw the state claim its first Sheffield Shield title in 2006-07, and then its second and third in the space of three seasons, with Faulkner playing a starring role.
He delivered on the big stage in both finals – a characteristic he’s carried with him into the international arena – but Coyle remembers the last regular season match in 2012-13 against the Commonwealth Bank Victorian Bushrangers as a moment where Faulkner stood up and showed he had the mettle to be an accomplished leader.
Entering day four, Coyle and skipper George Bailey were discussing the best time to declare to give the Tigers enough time to bowl Victoria out – an outcome that would earn them a home final.
As they ummed and arred, Coyle and Bailey where interrupted by Faulkner bursting through the dressing room door, pointing directly at Bailey and brazenly declaring ‘I’m on’.
True to his word, Faulkner went out, claimed five wickets and bowled Tasmania to victory with 10 overs to spare.
“There’s two things you do as a leader: you can do by directing and working with the team or you can do by example, and one thing he can do is lead by example,” said Coyle, recalling the victory.
“That instance against Victoria, he won the game with the ball for us, which was such a crucial couple of hours of cricket.
“We’ve then seen him do exactly the same thing with the bat at the next level.
“Some of the innings he’s played have been quite unbelievable.
“He would go in knowing if he needs 30 off two overs, that’s pretty gettable – that’s the way he looks at his game.
“Instilling that sort of belief in other people in the team is the next challenge.
“He’ll lead by example and if people hook into what he does and follow him, you’re going to have a team that can win from anywhere.”
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