Henry Hunt and the pursuit of the Baggy Green

SAM DALLING - INTERVIEW: Hunt is not quite there but is within striking distance. This week named the Sheffield Shield's joint 2021/22 player of this season alongside Travis Dean, in December Hunt debuted for Australia A against England Lions

"I'm starting to get to the pointy end of the stick." A beautifully simple description that captures Henry Hunt's cricketing status perfectly.  

Everyone begins somewhere in sport. Most make a little progress before settling relatively early. A small handful - Hunt included – journey even further. In Australian terms, that involves small green headwear.   

Hunt is not quite there but is within striking distance. This week named the Sheffield Shield's joint 2021/22 player of this season alongside Travis Dean, in December Hunt debuted for Australia A against England Lions. More recently, with Alex Carey and Travis Head absent on national duty, Hunt became South Australia's 72nd captain. 

"Kez (Carey) and Heady are the natural leaders of our squad, and it was obviously a massive honour to be asked to fill in for them," he explained. "I jumped at it. South Australia has a rich history over the last 150 years, so I was humbled. It's been a bit of fun, and it's in its infancy, but I've learned a lot already."  

Part of that fun included a five-wicket victory over New South Wales, achieved with six overs to spare. Before the final day, both teams agreed to attack a result, and that led to his state's first red-ball win for two years. 

^{Henry Hunt is one of several players pushing for Australia selection}

"I guess you could say it's a little bit of a monkey off our back," he admits. "It benefits us getting the win, but it also benefits the younger blokes from both sides; to play in a fixture and learn how to win, or to be in situations they wouldn't be exposed to if it had petered out into a draw. It's been a lot of hard work over a long period of time, so it was nice that it actually came through to finish off the season." 

Hunt has earned his opportunities through cricketing gold; when the market crashes around you, runs only increase in value. He has not missed a Sheffield Shield beat since his October 2019 debut, with only Cameron Green, Shaun Marsh and Travis Head outscoring him in that time. Hunt's 1,716 runs include six triple-figure scores, with the last two seasons yielding five centuries at 43.89.   

And whereas youngsters are often derided for being over-zealous, Hunt has a natural fortitude for batting time. No Shield batter has soaked up more than his 2,773 deliveries since the competition returned post pandemic, and in a drawn match with Tasmania in November 2021, Hunt occupied the crease for more than five hours. His 134 came from 235, his teammates mustering just 86 more runs between them. 

"I've probably always had that patience to bat long periods of time," he says. "In junior cricket, you had to retire at 30, but playing with adults aged 13 or 14 at Grenfell there was an opportunity to go out and bat all day.  

"They just said 'be the anchor' at one end and everyone else would bat around me. You don't have the power and strength to hit a lot of boundaries at that point, so I'd make it a goal to bat the whole innings and finish off with 50 or 60 off 40 overs. That happened a few times and generally, if I did that, we'd end up winning." 

Grenfell, a small town with a population of around 2,500 in New South Wales, is where Hunt was raised, his craft honed during long hours hitting tennis balls on a self-feeding bowling machine.  

He was always aware though that making it meant moving it. First, he nipped south to Canberra and Queanbeyan CC. Then came a stint in Sydney for spells with Northern Districts CC and Eastern Suburbs CC. Having switched coasts for Adelaide, he now appears for Kensington District CC in between State commitments. Runs did not always flow though, at least not immediately.

Hunt turned out for Australia A against England last year

"I've found that wherever I've gone, I've had success. But it's also taken some time to work out how to find that as well," he says.   

"I had a lean first year in Canberra (394 at 35.82) and then I scored runs (711 at 59.25). My first year in Sydney I didn't score any (232 at 21.09), and then I scored lots (774 at 55.29).  I couldn't get any in the 2nd XI, before scoring runs the following year. Then I got a contract and had an alright first Shield year – averaged 28 – and the last two years I've averaged in the forties."  

Patience tested then. 

"I've always had it on the field, but I've also been patient in terms of how I've tried to develop too. I started to identify what was good about my game and what I could get better at. I just kept taking small steps and tried not to get too frustrated with the results. Obviously, there was a process that worked, so then it was about taking that up through the levels, from Grade cricket all the way to Shield cricket." 

The way Hunt describes that process suggests that, as much as it challenged him, he relished every minute: "100 per cent, mate. Loved it. That's the best thing, as well; once you've worked it out, you know it works. Then all you have to do is keep replicating it.  

"I'm almost at the highest level now but there's obviously still a lot about my cricket I can improve - that one per cent or two per cent that adds to your game. If you don't go to training looking to challenge and improve yourself, you should probably give it up. I love it. I love the challenge. I love trying to improve, to work out a game plan that's going to make me succeed over a long period of time." 

What is striking about Hunt's path is the number of times his life has been packed into boxes. Never through running away; always out of a desire to better himself.

"The first time I left home was a bit daunting," he admits. "But once you're away and understand the path you're on, what you're trying to achieve, well… I tried to take all the emotion out of it. You're there to make a career of playing cricket and have some fun doing it.  Moving around and missing family… that's all just emotion. I tried to park that and get on with what I was trying to achieve." 

That might come across as cold written down, but it was not when spoken. His family is sporty - dad was a rugby league man while his younger sisters both play high-level football (soccer )– and their support has been vital.

"Mum and dad have been phenomenal. A lot of parents try and push their kids into university – 'go and get an education because you need it to start a job.' My parents were more on the lines of 'uni will always be there, so continue to do what you need to do and have some fun doing it.'" 

^{Hunt has had captaincy experience with South Australia in 2021/22}

For 18 months in Sydney, that involved "juggling a lot of balls". 

Hunt studied; he worked; he attempted to launch a cricket career: 

"It got to a stage where I just wanted to put all my eggs in one basket. Train my arse off, train the house down – basically do everything I could. And when I did that, it was nice to have the support of the people close to me. If you don't have that… well the results could have been very different." 

The 2018/19 Australian summer was seminal. Playing for ACT/NSW Country in the Futures League – the Australian equivalent of the 2nd XI County Championship – Hunt topped the run-scoring charts with 737 at 46.06.  

That came having taken himself to Darwin in Australia's Northern territory for pre-season. A different climate makes for a different cricket season, and Hunt wanted a headstart on his peers.

"It was only six weeks but if offered me the chance to better my skills in the 'winter'," he explains. "I trained religiously out there on the turf and was playing matches. That gave me the chance to come back to the Grade season already ahead of the game just because of how many balls I'd hit. I felt like I'd already played half a season." 

But even that weight of Futures League runs was not enough to earn one of only six coveted rookie contracts available with New South Wales. Hunt holds no grudge; he is simply grateful South Australia stepped into the breach.

"I guess I felt I deserved to get a contract somewhere after that Futures League season. But NSW is a big, big state. They've got a lot to choose from and at the time I couldn't fit. They had a few players who missed out on Australia A contracts too, so their list was already stretched. Once South Australia got involved, I couldn't let an opportunity like that slip." 

Belongings re-packed and then unboxed once more, Hunt has – where Covid has allowed - thrown himself into life in his adopted state. In Grenfell, 'footy' means rugby league; in Adelaide it is AFL.

^{Hunt has also turned his hand to white-ball cricket}

"It is religion," he says. "They just love it. There's no other code.  I love it too - it's so good. I lived with Wessy Agar for a year and a half and he's a Saints fan, so I jumped on the St Kilda bandwagon with him." 

After three consecutive wooden spoons, green shoots are visible at South Australia. Even before their recent victory – which lifted them above the state which opted against offering Hunt a deal - he believes looks had been deceptive. 

"Questions are always going to be asked when teams aren't performing. But the performances have been there – we had been so close.  

"We were quite unlucky in the second half of last season and the same again the first half of this year. We drove games against WA and Queensland, but a few chances go down, or a few dismissals don't go your way and that hurts. If they go our way, suddenly we are two wins out of five with a couple of draws and everyone is looking at us sitting midtable." 

Additional landmarks for Hunt this season have been his white-ball bows. Pre-Christmas he earned a late Marsh Cup call up when close friend and opening partner Jake Weatherald was ruled out. He made 61, putting on 159 with incumbent Australia gloveman Carey for the first wicket. 

"The circumstances were weird," he giggles. "Weathers giving himself concussion ramping one into his chin. But it was nice to get an opportunity. I felt as though it was warranted after my Shield success, and it was nice that the selectors had faith in me." 

Then came half-a-dozen Big Bash appearances for the Adelaide Strikers. The franchise finished with six wins in seven to qualify for the knockout stages, before falling at the penultimate hurdle. 

"It goes really quickly but was a lot of fun and we came home with a wet sail. Hopefully I can around that set-up in years to come," he says of the experience.

^{The batsman played for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash}

Pressed on whether he fears the shorter formats might detract from his ability to bat time, Hunt is bullish. He also makes a fair point.

"People assume that your white-ball can affect your red-ball, but I honestly think… well, look at the best players in the world: they're the best in all three formats. For me, it's a goal to play for Australia in the red-ball setup. But it's also a goal to be the best cricketer I can be. I definitely see myself as a three-format player." 

Hunt had a taste of the national red-ball set-up during the 2021/22 pre-Ashes get-together involving both the full and A Australia sides. Following a combined training camp, a team containing Usman Khawaja, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Scott Boland and Mitch Swepson defeated England Lions in an unofficial Test. 

"If you have people of that calibre, who've played that many first-class games, it's almost impossible not to take something away from the week," he said. "It was very beneficial as a learning experience but was also a lot of fun." 

And the opposition included Alex Lees, Ben Foakes plus new-ball pair Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher, all of whom featured in England's series defeat to the West Indies. Hunt made 33 and 40, inching himself closer to the sharp end.

"It's obviously nice to play against those blokes, know that I've competed against them, and then see them playing some Test cricket recently.

"There's always spots up for grabs, but I've gotten good at looking after my own game and my own preparation. There's a lot of outside noise about selection and who is going to be the next person in. But I try to only worry about things I can control - who the selectors pick is uncontrollable for me. 

"I aspire to play for Australia but I just try to put good performances on the board. Hopefully I can get there one day, one game at a time." 

 "Too easy", he says to finish. An Australianism for 'no worries'. You sense that, wherever cricket takes him, Hunt's love for the game will be constant.