Hunt finds clearer vision after horror injury

Until events took a gruesome turn late last summer, Henry Hunt planned to remain firmly on the year-round cricket treadmill that has been his life since breaking into the game at senior level.

Between his in-season commitments for South Australia, Hunt has variously plied his winter trade in Darwin, Sri Lanka (where he toured with Australia A in 2022) and in various UK Leagues including Lancashire and North Staffordshire/South Cheshire.

In January this year, the opener signed with Hertfordshire Premier League outfit Bishop's Stortford and was set for another northern summer on the road until fate intervened in the form of a grisly fielding mishap that radically altered his plans and his outlook.

Since his right foot slipped on the Junction Oval turf in attempting to catch a baseball-style drive from Victoria batter Tom Rogers in the February 8 One-Day Cup encounter, and the ball slammed unimpeded into his face, Hunt has undergone significant change.

In part that's due to the resultant injury – a fractured nose and upper jaw that required delicate reconstructive surgery and left him with five titanium plates and 15 screws in his face as well as notable weight loss after spending months on a diet of solely soft foods.

Hunt is understandably reluctant to speak in detail about the incident he admits to having re-watched "a couple of times", rightly pointing out it's now closer to the start of his next season than to the premature foreclosing of the previous.

But the 27-year-old, who happily describes himself as a cricket obsessive who habitually lives the game year-round, has also taken on a more philosophical view of his approach to the game that's been his livelihood as well as his passion.

So much so that this week, at a time of year he would traditionally be stepping up his preparation for the coming summer, Hunt is heading to Paris for a two-week holiday with his family to watch younger sister Clare compete for the Matildas at the Olympic Games.

He's already spent rare time with his parents and siblings on the family property at Grenfell, 400km west of Sydney, during his convalescence from surgery.

And after his European sojourn he's keen to resume intensive training with SA, albeit with a slightly more mellow ambition than he's carried into his five previous senior seasons with SA.

"Obviously what happened at the back end of the season was unfortunate, but for me now it's just a game," Hunt told cricket.com.au prior to his departure for France.

"We can continue to put so much pressure on ourselves to perform but it's been a nice little break to be away from cricket for a couple of months.

"To go back home, it's the first time I've been back to the family farm in two years so to go home and see mum and dad and my sisters, and to have all the family at home is probably something I've taken for granted a little bit.

"It's been quite nice perspective-wise."

Hunt is renowned as an assiduous worker who analyses his game closely and sets impeccably high standards.

It was that level of professionalism that carried the right-hander to the Shield Player of the Year honour (shared with fellow opener, Victoria's Travis Dean) in 2020-21 when he returned 628 runs at 44.86 with two centuries.

At that stage, Australia's selectors were still searching for a proven performer to partner David Warner at the top of the Test batting order with Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski and Marcus Harris all deployed across the space of 12 months.

And when Hunt became the only specialist opener (ahead of Harris and Matthew Renshaw) to average 20-plus on the red-ball leg of Australia A's 2022 tour to Sri Lanka, whispers of a potential Baggy Green Cap intensified.

But the runs dried up at domestic level, and until his epic 162 in eight and a half hours' batting against Queensland at the Gabba last November Hunt had gone 25 Shield innings without a hundred, during which time he averaged 23.

That comparatively lean trot coincided with the end of his bountiful union with more experienced opening partner Jake Weatherald and included less productive collaborations as senior mainstay alongside the likes of Jake Carder, Kelvin Smith and Conor McInerney.

While that Gabba innings – which underpinned SA's first Shield Win at the venue for 15 years – provided myriad causes for celebration, it also underscored to Hunt how fickle the life of a first-class opener can prove.

"It's tough when I've had good seasons prior and then having a lot of games in between hundreds, I guess that's where frustration comes from," Hunt said.

"There's obviously a lot of challenges that come with opening, and with the wickets we had last season I think the batters who had great performances throughout the year – guys like (SA teammate Nathan) McSweeney and (WA opener Cameron) Bancroft – they were able to trust their process and make sound decisions for longer periods.

"If I'm comparing myself to them, I wasn't able to do that for long periods of time.

"I was obviously able to do it up at the Gabba, but that was a bit of a once-in-a-blue-moon type of innings and I just wasn't able to get any consistency on the back of that.

"It came back to not making correct decisions at the right times.

"When you've got a new ball on wickets that are quite conducive to seam bowling you've just got to be sharper and better for longer.

"It was something I've been able to do in years past but there were times last summer when I was able to do that and get to 20 or so, and then I'd make a wrong decision."

Hunt found better outcomes in the one-day arena, where a combination of flatter pitches and greater scoring opportunities against the new ball saw him average 42 last summer.

But it was an innings in the 50-over format where he was rendered essentially a spectator that also helped shape the revised mindset he hopes to take into 2023-24.

Set an improbable 436 to defeat Tasmania at Karen Rolton Oval, Hunt watched in silent awe as his new opening partner Jake Fraser-McGurk thrashed a record-shattering 125 from 38 balls faced as the pair plundered a first-wicket stand of 172 inside 12 overs.

"That was some of the cleanest ball striking we've ever seen," Hunt said, instinctively smiling at the memory.

"And you look at his journey over the last twelve months it's been phenomenal and, from outside looking in, it seems that's how people now want to start playing the game.

"I think of his carefree attitude, but also how mentally tough he is at the top of the order, to be able to play his way and stick to his guns ever since shifting from Victoria to South Australia.

"It's something that a couple of us can learn from, to just trust the process, watch the ball and go out there and have fun."

Hunt understands that after five seasons at the top of SA's batting order – and as one of only 16 openers to have posted more than 2,000 Shield runs for the state – rival bowlers have been examining his technique as forensically as he dissects it himself.

That's why one of the first items on his agenda upon returning from the Olympics will be resuming his work with SA batting coach Steve Stubbings to ensure he's as prepared as possible for the start of the coming season.

The issue he won't be spending any time mulling over is the latest bout of speculation over Test opening candidates with Warner retired, Khawaja approaching his 38th birthday and the jury still out on whether incumbent Steve Smith is a long-term option.

Hunt is familiar with that narrative following his break-out summer in 2020-21 and concedes it's both unrealistic and unhelpful to devote valuable time to nebulous theories rather than focus on concrete realities.

And he holds a very clear idea of his aspirations for this season.

"I think it becomes self-defeating," he said of talk about a possible Test vacancy.

"What we've got here at South Australia at the moment is really the only thing I want to focus on.

"One of my goals is to win a Shield final, and that's the prize I'm eyeing off this season.

"All of us here want to do that and everyone's working hard.

"We've had some great stuff over the pre-season as a group and we're collectively driving each other towards that end goal of bringing some silverware back to South Australia.

"With the players and the group we've got now, I think it's really achievable.

"So that's the prize I'm eyeing at the moment and nothing of an individual nature."