Statistically one of their worst ever first-class seasons has left the NSW heirarchy with plenty to ponder this winter, with their pathways, contracting and coaching all in the spotlight
'Need to be better': Where 2022-23 went wrong for NSW
The NSW Blues' nightmare season – statistically one of their worst ever – is finally over.
It started with losing their emerging leg-spinner to a season-ending injury and finished with their captain being unceremoniously dropped.
In between they parted ways with head coach Phil Jaques, and then they lost Daniel Hughes, their top run-scorer in both formats, to a calf injury in the penultimate game of the summer.
A draw in their final match against South Australia sunk the Blues to a winless Marsh Sheffield Shield season (five losses and five draws) for just the second time in their 130-year Shield history, with the only other occurrence coming in 1938-39.
It also extended their longest streak without a victory to 12 games (six losses and six draws), stretching back to March last year when they played out a stalemate with Western Australia at Bankstown Oval.
So where did it all go wrong for a state that boasts the competition's best record (in terms of win percentage and titles won) and has maintained such success even without its abundance of national representatives year in, year out?
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As the competition’s most successful team, NSW has always been an exporter of talent.
But have they unintentionally been exporting their top talent?
At least 23 of the 66 players selected in last week's Sheffield Shield matches hail from NSW, and a best XI to have left NSW in the past eight years makes for interesting reading.
NSW best XI in other states: Henry Hunt (moved in 2019), Tim Ward (2020), Jake Doran (2015), Nic Maddinson (2018), Sam Fanning (2019), Ben Manenti (2021), Lawrence Neil-Smith (2018), Charlie Stobo (2020), Gurinder Sandhu (2018 and 2020), Nathan Ellis (2017), Henry Thornton (2021), 12th: Harry Conway (2022)
The Blues have just lost another as well with Mickey Edwards – who only played 15 matches for the Blues over six seasons due to injuries – signing an 18-month contract for English county Yorkshire as a local player courtesy of English-born parents.
While some of the above players were never on the Blues' list, or were released on their own request to pursue opportunities elsewhere, they've all come through the NSW pathway system, making it a constant challenge for the state's recruiters.
Head of Male Cricket, Michael Klinger – who joined Cricket NSW in 2021 – told cricket.com.au last month that with up to six Australian Under-19 representatives coming through each year, not every talented young player can earn a contract.
But Klinger believes those young players who miss out this year should be able to see the opportunities in the NSW teams if they perform well in Premier and Second XI cricket, like those given to Ollie Davies, Ryan Hackney, Blake MacDonald and Ryan Hadley over the past month, and Hayden Kerr last season.
"We can't be worried about losing talent," Klinger says. "If anything, you look at it as a positive of our system of developing our players. You can't fit 30 into 20 contracts.
"We're going to lose a few, and we've just got to speak to those players who are a little bit in limbo about the opportunities they may get, and be honest with them.
"The guys who do miss out, we'll make sure that we give them every opportunity to get the coaching they need … the amount of training and resources they get (in the NSW pathway system) is better than any other state; they train from July to June twice a week, whether it's strength and conditioning, physio or skill work.
"There may be the odd one who we just feel there's so much depth in that skill set may not get an opportunity and then with our blessing can go somewhere else if he gets offered a contract.
"It's happened for a while and it's going to keep happening. Our job is to identify who we think are going to be the best high-quality, high-performing players for long periods for NSW."
And therein lies the biggest challenge facing the NSW men's program.
You don't win 47 Sheffield Shield titles with a win percentage of 42 (while also, more recently, producing around a quarter of Australian Test debutants since November 2005) without a constant flow of talent coming through the system.
But as Klinger points out, turning that talent's potential into long-serving players for NSW is where the state has fallen down over the past six to 10 years.
No NSW representatives made the cut in the Australia A squad announced last week for next month's two four-day matches in New Zealand, and players such as Jack Edwards, Jason Sangha, Blake Nikitaras, Baxter Holt and Liam Hatcher have struggled to find consistency at first-class level.
"The gap of that really good group of under-19s coming through to them becoming five-plus year state cricketers is probably what we need to fix," says Klinger.
"And that's a combination of our pathway program and our senior program connecting well together and then when they do get into our state system having a real focus from our coaching staff, which will be under a new head coach going forward, on how to develop them at the rate that's acceptable and the rate that's going to get them to be long-term NSW cricketers."
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Ultimately, the results this season haven't materialised from nowhere. Even in 2021-22 there were signs that all three facets of the game were lagging behind the five other states.
The NSW team batting average that season was 23.16, more than five runs fewer than any other state. This season it rose to 27.53 but was still the lowest in the competition.
Their bowlers also took the fewest wickets in 2021-22 (103) and the second-fewest this season (130), two ahead of Tasmania (128).
Their bowling strike-rate was the equal highest in 2021-22 alongside the Redbacks at 68.4, only falling slightly this season to 67 (second-worst behind Tasmania – 70.2).
And when their bowlers did create chances this season, their fielders grassed more catches than any other team with the lowest catch percentage of 73.1.
Batting average
2022-23: 27.53 (lowest)
2021-22: 23.16 (lowest)
Wickets taken by bowlers
2022-23: 130 (fifth – Tasmania 128)
2021-22: 103 (fewest)
Bowling strike rate
2022-23: 67 (second highest – Tasmania 70.2)
2021-22: 68.4 (equal highest with South Australia)
Catch percentage
2022-23: 73.1 (lowest)
2021-22: 82.5 (third)
Ahead of his axing before the final game of the season, NSW captain Kurtis Patterson labelled his side's consistent batting woes "really disappointing and a little bit embarrassing".
"Getting bowled out for 130 (against Victoria) … it's not the first time it's happened this year and unfortunately it's not the second either," he explained.
"We're playing for NSW, and we need to be a lot better."
Earlier in the season, Patterson told cricket.com.au that the Blues hadn't been able to do the "fundamentals" for long periods of time.
"That obviously looks a little bit different for each individual … we all play in our own different ways, but just things like owning your defence, playing straight, getting bowlers back for their third and fourth spells and cashing in then, things that I would call the basics of long-form and four-day batting, we just haven't been able to nail," said Patterson.
"We've probably fallen into two traps: one being we've almost sat back too much and been dictated to strongly by bowlers; or the opposite, where we've taken risks that aren't there to be taken and trying to almost artificially speed the game up when it doesn't need to be sped up."
But amid all the gloom there are some positives to finish the summer.
Young opener Ryan Hackney grabbed his chance in the final game of the Shield season after earning a recall on the back of a Second XI average of 60, scoring a maiden first-class century against South Australia on Friday following his half-century in the first innings.
His opening partner Blake MacDonald hit 61 on debut and Jack Edwards brought up his second Sheffield Shield hundred four-and-a-half years after his first.
Fast bowler Ryan Hadley also captured five wickets on debut and Chris Green showed all season he's not just a white-ball player with 20 wickets and 290 runs in six Sheffield Shield matches.
The first job for Klinger this off-season is to appoint a new head coach to replace Jaques, who will then be tasked with developing the consistency required of their young players to compete at first-class level, along with reinvigorating some of their senior squad members.
There's no doubt the talent is there – it always has been – but nurturing it into performance is another challenge.
"One of the things we've done over the last couple of years is when a player is 50-50 to be selected because of poor form, we've probably always given them one more chance and sometimes we get criticised for that," Klinger adds.
"Going forward we need those guys not only performing well (every) one in three games, they need to be standing out and making 800-900-plus run seasons for us."
Winless Sheffield Shield seasons for NSW
1938-39
2022-23
Longest Sheffield Shield streaks without a win for NSW
12 – 2022-current (six losses and six draws)
10 – 2017-18 (six losses and four draws)
10 – 1998-99 (five losses and five draws)
9 – 1986-87 (three losses and six draws)