Next Big Thing Syndrome: Wyllie well grounded to live up to hype of Australian cricket’s future star (2024)
The latest in a long line of young Australian cricketers anointed as the next big thing, Teague Wyllie is so dedicated he left school to study turf management not to be a curator but to help with his batting.
Wyllie has the determination and level-headed demeanour to deal with the hype and continue a career trajectory that has prompted comparisons to Damien Martyn and Ricky Ponting.
The 18-year-old became the youngest player since Ponting to score a Sheffield Shield century when he stroked 104 in just his third match for Western Australia in their emphatic win over NSW this week at the WACA Ground in Perth.
His 204-ball innings, which included 15 boundaries, was 26 runs more than the entire NSW team scored on a bowler-friendly wicket in WA’s total of 258.
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The tall right-hander was just 123 days older than Ponting when he brought up his maiden Shield ton for Tasmania in 1993.
But he didn’t carry on when he calmly raised the willow to acknowledge his milestone with a boundary off none other than Test spinner Nathan Lyon.
Teague Wyllie. (Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)
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“A lot of the lads take the mickey out of me for not taking the helmet off but I just don’t like the attention from it,” Wyllie told reporters in Perth on Friday.
“My old boy drilled into me when you get a hundred that the job is not done. So I’ve never been a massive fan of carrying on. I’m just trying to get the team into a good position.”
He was handed his debut by the Warriors late last summer and retained in the team which won the Shield final despite not being old enough to celebrate to consume the champagne in the dressing rooms.
It continued a trend of a prodigy being on the fast track to the top. He scored an unbeaten 93 in his first-grade debut for Rockingham-Mandurah as a 15-year-old in the final game of the 2019-20 season and went on to score a ton in his next outing at the start of the next summer.
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Club president Lucas Robinson said Wyllie was reaping the rewards of countless hours of dedication to his craft.
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“He left school in Year 10 and he went and studied turf management. It wasn’t because in the long run he wanted to be a curator, it was more he wanted to learn how the pitches play,” he said.
“That’s the kind of kid he is. Confident to know he had the ability at a young age to know he could go places but also tried to learn everything he could.
“And also it allowed him to get to training at 11:30 [for extra practice] – we start at 4:30. This kid has always had a bat in his hand, he’s unbelievable.
YouTube footage of Wyllie facing a bowling machine cranked up to 100mph at the age of 14 has around a million views. In the clip, he looks unflustered by the lightning pace he’s facing.
Wyllie has benefitted from having former Western Australia and Perth Scorchers opener, Craig Simmons as his club coach.
Robinson said the club knew they had a potential star on their hands when he was at a young age.
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“Justin Langer at 13 called him the next superstar of Australian cricket, the next big thing. The club realised early on he was going to be something special. He’s got that natural talent but he’s so level headed,” he said.
“We knew he was ready for it. We are just so proud of him. He loves coming back to us and playing first grade. He comes down to our training, he sends message to our players asking how they’re going. It’s easy for a kid to do what he’s doing and forget his origins.
“He gets chucked into these situations all the time, in the deep end, and we’re yet to see him sink.
“We threw him into first grade early as a young kid. We thought he was ready and the pressure didn’t get to him.
“In the Shield final he scored 42 in a mature innings when the game could have gone either way. His maturity is well beyond his years. He just loves batting. He will take ball after ball after ball any time he’s training and he’ll get on the wanga to our boys and then stay in the nets for another hour wanging to him.
“He’s talkative and loud and chirpy and confident but he’s never arrogant. There’s a fine balance.”
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It may be considered a bold selection to choose a batter at Shield level when they’re 17 but his two games for WA’s Second XI suggested he would not be out of his depth.
He scored 79 and 112 at Adelaide Oval against South Australia before racking up 153 and 38 without being dismissed by Tasmania for an average of 190.5.
Wyllie played club cricket last weekend to warm up for the Shield match and was fuming after a mental lapse in which he spooned a catch to point to be out for 36.
“He holds himself to such high standards that getting out for 36 doesn’t cut it for him,” Robinson added.
“After he scored 36 the other day he came out with a crossword book and we all said what are you doing and he goes ‘I get that angry when I get out, I need something to calm me down’.
“He’s unbelievable and achieved so much so we’re excited for what comes next.
WA's youngest ever #SheffieldShield centurion, Teague Wyllie, on how he developed his cricket playing against his big sister in the backyard. pic.twitter.com/vgc0DtJmmU
— Australian Cricketers' Association (@ACA_Players) October 5, 2022
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“I think he’s fully equipped for whenever [national selectors call] and I think it’s when, not if, with him.
“When he was younger he was not as big and strong as he is now so he would bat all day because he was a bit slow. He had to learn how to get it through the gaps. Now he can score at a quick rate. He loves the long form of cricket and he says if he could be out there for three days, he wouldn’t get bored because he loves it.”
In an era when the riches of the T20 leagues can be enticing for rising stars, Wyllie’s sights are set on a baggy green cap as the ultimate achievement.
“Test cricket is the goal and I believe it is the pinnacle when it comes to cricket,” he said. “I’ve always loved batting for a long period of time.”
Cricket is running through his veins – the grandstand at Mandurah Cricket Club is named after his father John while his sister Georgia is a Western Australia representative in the WNCL.
After he represented Australia at under 17 level, he was part of the under-19 side which made the semi-finals of the World Cup in the Caribbean earlier this year.
He was Australia’s top scorer to earn selection in the team of the tournament, blasting a hundred against Scotland in the group stage, 86 not out versus the Windies, and another half-century in the Quarter-Final win over Pakistan.
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Teague Wyllie during the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in Georgetown, Guyana. (Photo by Ashley Allen-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
Cricket Australia continued its investment in Wyllie in the winter months by sending him on a development tour to India’s MRF Academy with other rising stars including Will Pucovski, Cooper Connolly, Henry Hunt, Josh Phillipe, Tanveer Sangha and Matt Kuhnemann.
Even though he’s only just old enough to be able to vote, he’s helping “the next generation” by mentoring younger players at a WA Cricket Regional Talent camp in July.
“I want to go down and help out the next generation of cricketers,” he told The Mandurah Mail without a hint of irony that he’s only 18 himself. “My best advice is to train really hard and chase your dreams. I’ve always loved that quote ‘shoot for the moon and you might hit a star or two on the way’.”
There have been many talented prospects over the course of Australian cricket history who have been burdened by great expectations placed upon them.
But you get the feeling that Wyllie has both the talent and the attitude to ensure he reaches his prodigious potential.
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