Henriques hoping to lead new-look NSW into better days

While conceding the circumstances under which he's returned to captaincy of New South Wales's Marsh Sheffield Shield team are far from ideal, Moises Henriques feels a sense of excitement heading into the final game of a so-far-winless season.

Henriques, who last led the Blues at Shield level in November 2017, takes the helm of an inexperienced NSW line-up against South Australia starting tomorrow at the close of a summer that has seen coach Phil Jaques depart and skipper Kurtis Patterson dropped from the starting XI.

Should the perennial powerhouse fail to take the points against SA – wooden spooners for the past five seasons – it will represent the second time in NSW's Shield history, and the first since 1938-39, they have endured an entire summer without a win.

The team that Henriques leads on to Karen Rolton Oval tomorrow seems certain to include debutants Blake McDonald (batter) and Ryan Hadley (fast bowler), while another top-order batter Ollie Davies will be playing just his second first-class game.

With Patterson axed after scoring 417 runs at 29.78 this season, leading scorer Daniel Hughes sidelined with a calf injury, top wicket-taker Sean Abbott India-bound for the upcoming ODI series and seamer Trent Copeland recently retired, the Blues are barely recognisable from the side that played in three of the past four Shield finals.

But Henriques believes the introduction of so many fresh faces coupled with a conscious effort to play with greater freedom and a positive mindset might help end the longest winless streak in the state's 130-year history and provide a springboard into 2023-24.

"It's always a privilege to captain the state, but to do it under circumstances such as these is disappointing," he told cricket.com.au today.

"I'm disappointed I haven't been able to perform to the level that supported the previous captain in Kurtis, who was obviously the best man for the job, and unfortunately we haven't performed as a team well enough to help him out and also to help out our previous coach in Jaquesy.

"So I think myself and lot of players here for this game feel partly responsible for that, and hopefully make amends in whatever way we can.

"We obviously can't make the final, it looks like we've sewn up the wooden spoon but I feel like the team's been playing some pretty good cricket over the last two or three games where we've led at the change of innings without being able to finish them off and get any wins.

"So hopefully this game we can trial a different mindset and a different way of playing that we've been discussing over the last couple of games."

Ahead of tomorrow's match – which carries no bearing on which team will meet Western Australia in this month's Shield final – the Blues held a team meeting at Karen Rolton Oval, where it was agreed the upcoming game offers a no-lose scenario.

With his team assured of finishing bottom, Henriques claims the pressure is effectively off the young players setting out on their first-class journey.

And he added the spectre of securing unwanted history by being part of the first Blues' outfit in 75 years to finish a Shield summer without posting a win hasn't been raised as a motivational tool.

"We've been winless up until this point, all the guys are completely aware that is the case," Henriques said.

"If they have been worrying about it for the last few games, it hasn't helped them so there's no point worrying about it for this game.

"I look at the group of players we have here, and also that we've had for the last nine games and in my opinion it's got nothing to do with skill, it's got nothing to do with technique.

"Unfortunately, sometimes when you start off a season with a few losses and you get behind, you start doubting everything you've prepared for in the pre-season and maybe we've just dwelled on that far too long.

"Sure we get marked high, and we have high standards for ourselves but to be honest we just haven't been good enough this year.

"Maybe the mindset, for a lot of individuals, has been possibly filled with doubt.

"But if players do well in this game, then they can take that confidence into the next few months and think 'gee, I should have been playing with that mindset the whole time'.

"And if you don't do well, you've got three months to learn from it and get better so I look at it as a huge learning opportunity and a win-win for all of us, myself included."

Should Henriques require confirmation of the impetus a struggling team can gain from a late-season victory, he only need to converse with his rival captain and fellow stand-in skipper Jake Lehmann who cites the significance of the corresponding match a year ago.

That was when SA snapped a 16-game winless streak stretching back to 2020 by chasing down NSW's target of 326 on the final day of their season at Rolton Oval to record a five-wicket win.

While Lehmann acknowledges the Redbacks' improvement since then has been incremental, he subscribes to the theory a single win after a prolonged lack of success can bring a profound impact.

"Last year we were in a similar situation against New South Wales, and that really helped the confidence of the boys coming into this year," Lehmann said today, having taken over the captaincy from opener Henry Hunt last month.

"We haven't won as many games as we (hoped) but we've definitely played better cricket and we've been in a lot more games.

"If you look back at last year with just the one win in the Shield, we've gone to two (wins) this year and we've played in a (Marsh Cup) one-day final.

"We've got three blokes going to New Zealand in two weeks' time to play for Australia A (Wes Agar, Spencer Johnson and Nathan McSweeney) and that shows the young kids are coming through and SA cricket is in a better place this year.

"Going into next year, hopefully we can expand on that again and win a few more games."

Following Copeland's retirement announcement earlier this month, Henriques becomes the oldest player on NSW's list having turned 36 in February.

But despite the frustrations of an unsuccessful summer and a self-assessment he's perhaps played too passively this season and waited for games to come to him rather than taking them on, he indicated today he is keen to continue playing for at least another year.

"If anything it makes me want to play more," he said, when asked if the disappointments of recent months would impact any decision on his playing future.

"You always want to go out on a win – not a winning game, but a tournament or competition win.

"Personally, I would love the opportunity to come back around and help New South Wales be a dominant state again.

"I would hate to consider myself part of the problem as to why we're losing.

"I haven't had the season I would have liked this year and there's no hiding from that but I know I can do better, and I know a lot of it has been poor decision-making and some mental errors.

"Physically the body and batting sharpness, I feel great.

"I'd love to leave this (NSW Cricket) Association and the team I love in a better place than when I came to it.

"I guess when I finish my career, whenever that is, the most meaningful thing anyone could say to me is that I helped them become a better cricketer and a better person.

"And if a couple of these younger cricketers here say that one day, I'd be very chuffed and very proud."

South Australia squad: Wes Agar, Jordan Buckingham, Daniel Drew, Henry Hunt, Spencer Johnson, Jake Lehmann (c), Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Nathan McSweeney, Harry Nielsen (wk), Lloyd Pope, Liam Scott, Kelvin Smith

New South Wales squad: Ollie Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hackney, Ryan Hadley, Moises Henriques (c), Hayden Kerr, Blake MacDonald, Jason Sangha, Chris Tremain