'Stroke of genius': When Michael Bevan landed at Tassie

Listen to 'Bevan Sent', the first episode of Stories After Stumps, on your preferred podcast platform

Twenty years ago this month, young Tasmania head coach Brian 'Freddy' McFadyen was a giddy mixture of nerves and excitement, having just pulled off one of the biggest recruitment coups in the state's history.

It was 25 years since the Tigers had won a trophy. In 2002-03, they'd collected the wooden spoon in the Sheffield Shield, and then in 2003-04, the unwanted utensil was theirs in the one-day competition.

They boasted Ricky Ponting in their ranks, but the batting genius had just become Australia captain, which meant they scarcely saw him. Young allrounder Shane Watson meanwhile, had just decided that, after a breakthrough Shield campaign, he was going to head home to Queensland.

McFadyen saw in his group both a strong contingent of senior players, and a promising group of youngsters. But the game was moving quickly into a professional landscape, and the country's smallest state had been struggling to keep up.  

"I'd arrived in Tasmania in 2002," he says. "They were really competitive, they always fought hard … but they'd never really tasted much success at that stage.

"It seemed evident to me that one thing that was lacking was someone to set the highest standards.

"As the new head coach, I was keen to have someone come in and actually rock the boat a little bit, and let people know that with first-class cricket in Australia, comfort is not where you want to be."

McFadyen and his colleagues, including Tasmania legend Dene Hills, scoured the country for the potential right fit. Mike Hussey and Andy Bichel were approached, but declined.

And then it came to them. Ponting wasn't the only batting genius in the country. There was a veteran from New South Wales, who had reshaped one-day cricket but never seized his chances in Baggy Green. He had also just been de-listed by Cricket Australia. Better still, he had attended the Cricket Academy with McFadyen some 15 years earlier.   So the young coach picked up the phone and called his old mate: Michael Bevan.

If there was anyone who would lift standards and rattle cages, McFadyen felt sure Bevan was the man.

"Well, if that's what Freddy's master plan was," says former Tasmania spinner Xavier Doherty, "then it was an absolute stroke of genius. Because that's exactly what it did."

'Bevan Sent', the very first episode of cricket.com.au's new audio documentary podcast, Stories After Stumps, tells the tale of Bevan's recruitment and his record-breaking maiden season on the Apple Isle, which ended in a long-awaited trophy for Tasmania.

The players of the period recall the real Bevan through stories both hilarious and heroic; a man apart, he refused to suffer fools and demanded an elite standard in training and on the pitch.

"When 'Bevo' landed in the state, it was pretty obvious (he was) a straight shooter," recalls former paceman Brett Geeves. "Almost immediately he was telling truths to people in a group setting."

Adds former batter Michael Dighton: "He wasn't scared to challenge the status quo. We were a tightknit group … we probably enjoyed ourselves maybe a little bit too much at times off the field. He came down and challenged the group … particularly around our preparation, and probably sometimes what we were doing off the field. But I think it certainly had the desired impact."

Bevan, who filled the unusual dual role of player and assistant coach, commanded respect not only because of his record and achievements, but because he was still very much delivering with the bat.

Former teammates are divided on his personality type – some saw him as insular and self-absorbed; others believe he was genuine in trying to get the best out of those around him – but they are united on other matters: he was ferociously competitive, and he was one of the most consistently brilliant batters they had ever seen.

"It was absolutely remarkable," McFadyen says of a Shield campaign in which Bevan broke the competition record for both runs and centuries scored. "It got to the point where you were only surprised if he didn't make a hundred."

'Bevan Sent' is the opener in a six-episode first season of Stories After Stumps. You can listen to it here, and stay tuned for more episodes dropping fortnightly.