Tip-top Stanlake sees red for county stint

Fit and in career-best bowling form, Billy Stanlake is eager to put the pain of missing Queensland's Marsh Sheffield Shield final triumph behind him when he begins a season-long stint in the United Kingdom next week.

Stanlake will make his Derbyshire debut in the County Championship next Thursday, two weeks after he was initially meant to play following a misunderstanding of quarantine restrictions, as the towering fast bowler aims to prove he is no short-format specialist.

The 26-year-old emerged as one of the most exciting pacemen in the country not long after his international debut in 2017 and has since played 27 limited-overs games for Australia, but more recently has been left frustrated by his lack of opportunities in first-class cricket.

An unusual season that saw him sit idly in his hotel room in the UAE during last year's Indian Premier League, where he was an unused squad member at Sunrisers Hyderabad, before then also being overlooked by the Bulls' Shield side when he was available following the KFC BBL finished with him wistfully watching Queensland canter to the first-class title in Brisbane last month. 

The strength of the Mitchell Swepson and Michael Neser-led Bulls attack had left Stanlake surplus to requirements.

It meant that, four Marsh One-Day Cup games aside, Stanlake was largely confined to terrorising his Queensland teammates in the nets for the final few months of the season.

"I would have loved to be out there playing but hopefully that's in front of me," he told cricket.com.au.

"I don't think they were really going to change the team, they were doing such a great job. There wasn't really any cricket to show how I'm bowling. It was a little bit of a tough pill to swallow but that's how it is sometimes.

"By the end of the Big Bash I'd found that rhythm out in the middle again and I think that showed in my bowling at the back end of the season in the one-dayers.

"It's frustrating to not be playing much because I'm probably bowling the best I ever have. So It's really exciting to come over here and hopefully perform well."

Stanlake will play all formats for the club, who look set to benefit immensely from the speedster’s arrival.

Derbyshire are winless after four games and sit bottom of Group One in the County Championship standings, with Stanlake’s first game to come against Peter Siddle’s Essex, the reigning champions.

"I haven’t been able to play much red-ball (cricket) back home. They play lots of games over here so to get a big chunk of bowling out in the middle was the biggest reason I wanted to come over," said Stanlake.

"My body feels in great nick, I've been feeling like that for the last 12-18 months now. I’m 26 now, so at this stage your body should have matured. My bowling is in a really good place the last while or so.

"I just want to be playing cricket."

He will be joined by close friend Ben McDermott, the star short-format batsman who grew up with Stanlake on the Gold Coast, next month when he arrives to play for Derbyshire as well, for the white ball component of the season only.

But it is the red Dukes ball that Stanlake is particularly focused on.

The 204-cm tall quick has played just six first-class games over the past two years, despite largely getting over the injury and durability issues that plagued him during his early twenties.

He has been in close contact with Queensland bowling coach Andy Bichel, the 19-Test seamer who played six seasons for Worcestershire, Essex and Hampshire, while he has also benefited from the wisdom of Bichel's former Bulls and Australia teammate, Michael Kasprowicz.

A main theme of their advice, that fast bowlers in county cricket must learn to bowl within themselves to get through the gruelling amount of games, runs counter to what Stanlake has been told for most of his career.

"Bichsy (Bichel) was great, he spoke to me quite a bit before coming over. ‘Kaspa’ was around a bit towards the end of the Shield season as well," said Stanlake.

"You're going to have to pick and choose your times in games at certain times. You're going to get decks over here that are quite bowler friendly at times.

"It's going to be pretty hard to go flat chat for the whole season while you're playing. You're just playing all the time.

"From everyone that's played here before, they say you have to find a way to make sure you can bowl within yourself at certain times, otherwise you're a fair chance of breaking down.

"I've gotten better at it at training over the last couple of years but in games it's a hard one for me to pull it back – it's something I've struggled with."

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