Breakthrough win puts NSW doubts at ease: Henriques

He spoke like a proud father after leading his young chargers to a drought-breaking victory against Western Australia, but NSW skipper Moises Henriques says they won't get carried away with "one Shield win".

While they'd come close a month earlier in their season-opener against Queensland but were unable to finish the job on the final day, two heavy defeats at the hands of former cellar-dwellers South Australia and archrivals Victoria gave the impression it could be more of the same for NSW this summer.

But after 15 games spanning 625 days without a win, they refused to let another chance slip by, snapping the state's longest winless streak in their Sheffield Shield history by thumping the reigning champions by 10 wickets – a side they hadn't beaten in the four-day format in four years.

For Henriques – reinstated as the state's captain this season – it was just reward for a positive preseason and a win that he hopes will help his players "put a line" through and move on from one of the darkest periods in NSW cricket, and one that claimed their previous head coach (Phil Jaques) and men's captain (Kurtis Patterson).

"It's a very special win (and) I am very proud because there's a lot of young guys there that I've seen doing a lot of hard work," Henriques said post-match.

"After the last game we went back and we had a huge conversation about learning, analysing, getting better and just that hunger and desire to do well and start doing our job, which is playing well for NSW.

"The last couple of Shield performances definitely weren't our best, so to bounce back from those two performances and play like we did … I'm glad we've got a result to go with what I think has been some really positive processes.

"We've just played the best team in all three formats over the last couple of years and to knock them off in the one-dayer (last Saturday) and then play well here in the Shield game, I think it shows the amount of skill that's in our change room.

"It's just a matter of getting into the right mindset … and hopefully it's one of a few more for the season now."

Absent in large patches over the preceding 20 months had been the cohesion of performances between the state's endless line of talented youngsters and their seasoned campaigners, a relationship that finally clicked into gear against Queensland to open the season and then again against WA this week.

Ollie Davies, the 23-year-old star of their next-generation, was the difference in a low-scoring match with his maiden century in any format, but it was a knock made possible by the support of his 36-year-old skipper at the other end who hit 51 in a fifth-wicket stand of 116, the highest partnership of the match.

With the ball it was 27-year-old quick Liam Hatcher in his 13th first-class match who did the damage in the first innings with four wickets (and a total of seven for the match), before veteran seamer Chris Tremain picked up his 11th five-wicket haul in the second to finish with seven for the match.

"It was good that we recognised some really crucial parts in the game and we were able to put some nice partnerships together with the ball," Henriques said.

"And then Ollie and I put on a key partnership in the context of a low-scoring game. That innings from Ollie made my job pretty easy at the other end to just hang around a watch him go about his business.

"The more the senior players can stand up, the more that your Ollie's, Jason's (Sangha), Blake's (MacDonald) and Ryan's (Hackney) can play with freedom knowing they've got some back up.

"We want those guys to play exactly how Ollie played and be able to learn on the run."

While Davies was the standout with 129 from 143 balls in their breakthrough win – his first red-ball match of the summer having come back into the side for allrounder Jack Edwards as he manages minor niggles – Henriques believes NSW have a number of young players who they could build their future around.

"Whenever someone asks who's your next best player coming through, we do have a lot of great young players and Ollie's just another one of them," he said.

"The thing that's most impressed me about Ollie over the last week was … he just had a completely different presence.

"In the one-dayer to come out and finish the game off with 30 not out (in a two-wicket win over WA), it's obviously not the most runs he's ever going to score but he was there at the end when we won the game with wickets falling at the other end and he held his cool.

"Doing those little things for the team and being there at the end of one game, it builds a lot of confidence for you, it makes you feel like, and he did, he won us the game, and then this game, he didn't just get to 100 and give it away either.

"He got there and he was ready to keep going."

And while he was confident coming into the season, his side's breakthrough win has Henriques relived they can shake away the doubts following their slow start to the campaign.

"It's really important to get a result to give the guys a little bit of reward for some really positive processes otherwise that doubt starts to set in again," he said.

"Whether you like it or not, sometimes you can go about your processes the same way over and over again and think you're doing it well but until you start seeing some results, that doubt is always there.

"I'm hoping on the back of that, it's built up a lot of belief and a lot of confidence in the guys that they're on the right path because I believe they are.

"I feel like our whole group has come a long way.

"We don't get carried away, it's just one Shield win, but … that's a bit of affirmation of what we've already been doing.

"We've got two more Shield games before the break and if we win one, maybe two of those, we're right back in the hunt."

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points