Cricket NSW has announced its NSW Blues list of contracted players for the 2014/15 season, with the exciting news that talented young batsman Jake Doran will join the squad on a ‘rookie’ contract.
Doran is seen by many as one of the most talented batsmen to have come through the junior ranks in the last decade. He caused a storm last season when as a 16 year-old he broke Doug Walters’ record as the youngest player ever to represent the NSW 2nd XI, then followed it up by signing a rookie contract with the Sydney Thunder, representing the CA Chairman’s XI against England and played in the U19 World Cup.
Doran, who is a stylish left-hander, is the brother of former NSW Blues squad member and Sydney Thunder player Luke Doran.
In other news, Pat Cummins will come back on to a NSW State contract, having previously been on a Cricket Australia contract, while Steve Smith goes the other way having been rewarded for an outstanding season by receiving a CA contract.
The NSW Blues will provide seven players on the Cricket Australia contract list with Smith joining Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, David Warner and Shane Watson.
Opening batsman Ryan Carters, who scored 861 runs last season in the Bupa Sheffield Shield to finish third on the list of run-scorers, is upgraded from a ‘rookie’ to a full State contract.
In terms of squad departures, Chris Tremain has accepted an offer to join the Victorian Bushrangers, while ‘rookies’ Nic Bills and Jay Lenton are released. Added to the ‘rookie’ list alongside Jake Doran is 19 year-old Mosman all-rounder Patrick Pisel.
Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones is excited about the quality of the squad going into next season: “Cricket NSW is delighted once again to have 7 players contracted to Cricket Australia as well as an excellent Contract list for 2014/15. We have retained all but one full member of our Shield-winning squad and are also able to call on our Australian players at certain times of the year to reinforce the winning culture of the group. Last season was a successful one for the NSW Blues, but we need to keep improving and make sure that we are always challenging for titles in the Bupa Sheffield Shield and Ryobi Cup, and continuing to produce players for Australia.”
The full 27 player NSW Blues Squad for 2014/15 is:
CRICKET AUSTRALIA CONTRACTS
Michael Clarke
Brad Haddin
Nathan Lyon
Steve Smith
Mitchell Starc
David Warner
Shane Watson
STATE CONTRACTS
Sean Abbott
Doug Bollinger
Ryan Carters
Trent Copeland
Pat Cummins
Josh Hazlewood
Moises Henriques
Scott Henry
Daniel Hughes
Josh Lalor
Nic Maddinson
Peter Nevill
Stephen O’Keefe
Kurtis Patterson
Ben Rohrer
Gurinder Sandhu
ROOKIE CONTRACTS
Harry Conway
Jake Doran
Ben Dwarshuis
Patrick Pisel
